Jupiter,
or also one of the Jovian planets (gas planets) in our solar system.
Name:
It got its name from the Roman god Jupiter, who also is Zeus in the Greek Mythology. He is the king of all the gods, the strongest, smartest, etc. that can be referred to Jupiter’s size as the biggest planet in our solar system. Also Jupiter is the son of Cronus (Saturn).
The sign stands for the Greek letter “zeta” or “Z” in English which stands for Zeus who is also known as Jupiter.
Discovery:
It was discovered by the Babylonians, but because Jupiter is visible to the naked eye on the night sky, it has been visible to everyone and everything.
Size:
- Diameter: 142,984 km. (11.2 times bigger than Earth’s)
- Mass: 1.9 x 10e27 (317 times more than Earth)
- Density: 1.326 g/cm3 (that means that in case you would put Jupiter in a huge bowl of water it would slowly sink.)
Rotation & Revolution:
Rotation: 9h 58m
Revolution: 11.78 Earth years.
Location:
- 5th planet away from the sun
- 5.2 AU (777909600.9 km)
Land:
- Never solid (gas planet)
- The „sea is out of liquid hydrogen
- 71% hydrogen 24% helium
- About -110 degrees Celsius
- Core is probably solid iron (reason for its enormous magnetic field)
Atmosphere:
· 75% hydrogen 24% helium
· Clouds are out of crystal ammoniac
The Great Red Spot (GRS):
- Discovered in 17th century (350 years!!!)
- High pressured hurricane
- Average wind speed of about 640km/h.
- Twice as big as Earth
- Oval shaped
- 12000km x 25000km area
- more storms (e.g. Little Red Spot)
Rings:
Jupiter has one ring, which has 3-4 parts (Halo Ring, Main Ring, Gossamer Ring/s) depending on your opinion. Some scientists define the Gossamer Ring as one ring others split it up into the Amalthean Gossamer Ring and the Thebe Gossamer Ring. As shown in the picture there are 4 moons orbiting in the ring.
Moons:
- 63 moons (named after Zeus’s lovers)
- 4 Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Callisto, Ganymede)
| Io | Europa | Callisto | Ganymede |
| Most active volcanic body in our solar system (100x more than Earths) | Has a 100km deep water-ocean under its surface. | Has very old craters, that give details about the earlier universe | Biggest moon in the solar system (bigger than Mercury) |
Important Missions:
- Pioneer 10 (first to pass the Asteroid belt, Jupiter Flyby, still travelling)
- Pioneer 11 (2nd to pass the Asteroid belt, Jupiter Flyby, helped to study the moons, magnetic field, atmosphere, broke but still travelling)
- Voyager 2 ( Jupiter Flyby, discovered the rings of Jupiter)
- Galileo (Jupiter orbiting mission, first to put a probe into an outer planets atmosphere, helped to observe the atmosphere Ingredients and then the Galilean Moons in more detail.
- JUNO (Launching in August this year, going to polar orbit Jupiter)
If you would like a copy of my notes they can be found here.
This video shows Jupiter, recorded by a webcam at the Telescope Dobson 6
