Jupiter- The Biggest planet of Solar system

 
 

Jupiter has a long history of surprising scientists – all the way back to 1610 when Galileo Galilei found the first moons beyond Earth. That discovery changed the way we see the universe.

 Fifth in line from the Sun, Jupiter is, by far, the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined.
One spacecraft – NASA's Juno orbiter – is currently exploring this giant world. 

  • Jupiter’s four largest moons (the Galilean Satellites) are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
  • Jupiter have 53 confirmed | 26 provisional (79 total)
  • Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system at nearly 11 times the size of Earth and 317 times its mass.
  • Jupiter, being the biggest planet, gets its name from the king of the ancient Roman gods.
  • Despite its size, Jupiter has the shortest day of any other planet; it only takes about 10 hours for a complete rotation.
  • A lot like the Sun, Jupiter is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter contains the largest ocean in the solar system, an ocean of liquid hydrogen.
 

Jupiter is the fifth planet from our Sun and is, by far, the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined. Jupiter's stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.

Jupiter is surrounded by dozens of moons. Jupiter also has several rings, but unlike the famous rings of Saturn, Jupiter’s rings are very faint and made of dust, not ice.

Exploration

Nine spacecraft have studied Jupiter up close. NASA's Juno spacecraft is currently studying the gas giant planet from orbit. The spacecraft, which arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, is the first to study the planet's mysterious, cloud-shrouded interior. Scientists also use the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes to regularly check in on Jupiter.
 
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter. It was followed by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys. NASA's Galileo mission was first to orbit Jupiter and to send an atmospheric probe into the stormy clouds. The international Ulysses mission used Jupiter's powerful gravity to hurl itself into orbital passes of the Sun's northern and southern poles. Both Cassini and New Horizons studied Jupiter as they hurtled on to their main science targets — Saturn for Cassini and Pluto and the Kuiper Belt for New Horizons.

Two new missions are in the works to make close studies of Jupiter's moons NASA's Europa Clipper and ESA's JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE).

Jupiter holds a unique place in the history of space exploration. In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei used a new invention called the telescope to look at Jupiter and discovered the first moons known to exist beyond Earth. The discovery ended incorrect, ancient belief that everything, including the Sun and other planets, orbited the Earth.

 

Size and Distance

With a radius of 43,440.7 miles (69,911 kilometers), Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Jupiter would be about as big as a basketball.  From an average distance of 484 million miles (778 million kilometers), Jupiter is 5.2 astronomical units away from the Sun
 

Orbit and Rotation

Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. One day on Jupiter takes only about 10 hours (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate or spin around once), and Jupiter makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Jovian time) in about 12 Earth years (4,333 Earth days).  its equator is tilted with respect to its orbital path around the Sun by just 3 degrees. This means Jupiter spins nearly upright and does not have seasons as extreme as other planets do. 
 

Structure

he composition of Jupiter is similar to that of the Sun—mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a liquid. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the solar system—an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water. Scientists think that, at depths perhaps halfway to the planet's center, the pressure becomes so great that electrons are squeezed off the hydrogen atoms, making the liquid electrically conducting like metal. Jupiter's fast rotation is thought to drive electrical currents in this region, generating the planet's powerful magnetic field. It is still unclear if, deeper down, Jupiter has a central core of solid material or if it may be a thick, super-hot and dense soup. It could be up to 90,032 degrees Fahrenheit (50,000 degrees Celsius) down there, made mostly of iron and silicate minerals (similar to quartz).
 

Formation

Jupiter took shape when the rest of the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago, when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become this gas giant. 
About 4 billion years ago, Jupiter settled into its current position in the outer solar system, where it is the fifth planet from the Sun.
 

Surface

As a gas giant, Jupiter doesn’t have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Jupiter, it wouldn’t be able to fly through unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet crush, melt and vaporize spacecraft trying to fly into the planet.
 

Atmosphere

upiter's appearance is a tapestry of colorful cloud bands and spots. The gas planet likely has three distinct cloud layers in its "skies" that, taken together, span about 44 miles (71 kilometers). The top cloud is probably made of ammonia ice, while the middle layer is likely made of ammonium hydrosulfide crystals. The innermost layer may be made of water ice and vapor.
The vivid colors you see in thick bands across Jupiter may be plumes of sulfur and phosphorus-containing gases rising from the planet's warmer interior. Jupiter's fast rotation—spinning once every 10 hours—creates strong jet streams, separating its clouds into dark belts and bright zones across long stretches.
With no solid surface to slow them down, Jupiter's spots can persist for many years. Stormy Jupiter is swept by over a dozen prevailing winds, some reaching up to 335 miles per hour (539 kilometers per hour) at the equator. The Great Red Spot, a swirling oval of clouds twice as wide as Earth, has been observed on the giant planet for more than 300 years.  



To know more about it- https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/in-depth/

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 


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