Jupiter

[History | Information | Moons | Data]

History

Jupiter is named after the Roman king of the gods. It is more than twice as massive as all the other planets in the solar system combined.
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Information

Jupiter is a giant ball of hydrogen-based gasses whose density is only slightly greater than water. Its surface clouds form alternating bands that spin in opposite directions. White bands are known as zones and dark bands are known as belts. They are caused by material rising from the center, cooling, and sinking back to the center. This action takes place on earth also, just much slower (plate tectonics). The coriolis effect on the surface causes the winds to spin in opposite directions. Organic chemicals cause the color differences.
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a permanent hurricane caused by winds spinning in opposite directions. Jupiter, like all Jovian planets, has rings. These rings are not as brilliant and visible as Saturn, that is why not many people know of them.
Jupiter has no [solid] surface, as you descend through the clouds, they become increasingly more dense, sometimes liquid.
Many people think that Jupiter was suppose to be a star at one point, but never made it. It gives off twice as much energy as it receives from the sun. Others think that its residual heat from its formation.
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Moons

Jupiter has 16 named moons, 4 of which can be seen from Earth. These were discovered by Galileo, and named the Galilean satellites: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The moons of Jupiter mimicked the formation of the planets in the solar system, the lighter moons farther out, the heavier ones close to the center.
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Io: This moon is the most volcanically active of these 4 moons. The intense gravitational field of Jupiter pulls and distorts Io to such an extent that internal friction heats the planet up. The internal heat returns to the surface as volcanoes, which produces sulfur, making the surface reddish-orange.

Europa: An icy crust covers the liquid mantle of this planet. Some scientists believe that this moon might be able to support life. Its surface was recently shown to contain a great deal of Epsom salts.

Ganymede: This moon is the largest in the solar system, larger than the planet Mercury.

Callisto: This is the last Galilean moon and is similar in composition to Ganymede but not as large.

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Data

Distance from Sun: Mean— 483,600,000 mi. Shortest— 460,200,000 mi. Greatest— 507,000,000 mi. Closest approach to Earth— 390,700,000 mi. Length of year (earth-days)— 4,332.7 Average orbital speed— 8.12 mi. per sec. Diameter at equator— 88,864 mi. Rotation period— 9 hrs. 55 min. Tilt of axis "(degrees)— 3.08 Temperature— -250 *F Atmosphere: Pressure— no surface Gasses— Hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia, ethane, acetylene, phosphine, water vapor, carbon monoxide Mass (Earth=1)— 317.892 Density (g/cubic cm)— 1.33 Gravity (Earth=1)— 2.53 Number of known satellites— 16

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