Those who at least once in the evening carefully observed the stars could not help but notice a bright point, which with its brilliance and size stands out from the rest. This is not a distant star, whose light takes millions of years to reach us. This is shining Jupiter - the largest planet solar system. At times of closest approach to the Earth, this celestial body becomes most noticeable, inferior in brightness to our other cosmic companions - Venus and the Moon.
The largest of the planets in our solar system became known to people many thousands of years ago. The name of the planet alone speaks of its significance for human civilization: out of respect for the size of the heavenly body, the ancient Romans gave it a name in honor of the main ancient deity - Jupiter.
Giant planet, its main features
Studying the solar system within the visibility range, a person immediately noticed the presence of a huge space object in the night sky. Initially, it was believed that one of the brightest objects in the night sky was a wandering star, but over time, the different nature of this celestial body became clear. The high brightness of Jupiter is explained by its colossal size and reaches its maximum values during the planet's approach to the Earth. The light of the giant planet is -2.94 m in apparent magnitude, losing in brightness only to the brilliance of the Moon and Venus.
The first description of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, dates back to the 8th-7th centuries BC. e. Even the ancient Babylonians observed a bright star in the sky, personifying it with the supreme god Marduk, the patron saint of Babylon. In later times, the ancient Greeks and then the Romans considered Jupiter, together with Venus, one of the main luminaries of the celestial sphere. The Germanic tribes endowed the giant planet with mystical divine powers, giving it a name in honor of their main god Donar. Moreover, almost all astrologers, astrologers and predictors of antiquity always took into account the position of Jupiter and the brightness of its light in their predictions and reports. In later times, when the level technical equipment made it possible to more accurately observe space, it turned out that Jupiter clearly stands out in comparison with other planets of the solar system.
The actual size of a small bright point on our night sky has enormous significance. The radius of Jupiter in the equatorial zone is 71,490 km. Compared to Earth, the diameter of the gas giant is slightly less than 140 thousand km. This is 11 times the diameter of our planet. Such grandiose size corresponds to mass. The giant has a mass of 1.8986x1027 kg and weighs 2.47 times more than the total mass of the remaining seven planets, comets and asteroids belonging to the Solar System.
The mass of the Earth is 5.97219x1024 kg, which is 315 times less than the mass of Jupiter.
However, the “king of the planets” is not the largest planet in all respects. Despite its size and enormous mass, Jupiter is 4.16 times less dense than our planet, 1326 kg/m3 and 5515 kg/m3, respectively. This is explained by the fact that our planet is a rocky ball with a heavy inner core. Jupiter is a dense accumulation of gases, the density of which is correspondingly less than the density of any solid body.
Another interesting fact. With a fairly low density, the gravity on the surface of the gas giant is 2.4 times higher than terrestrial parameters. The acceleration of gravity on Jupiter will be 24.79 m/s2 (the same value on Earth is 9.8 m/s2). All presented astrophysical parameters of the planet are determined by its composition and structure. Unlike the first four planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, which are classified as terrestrial objects, Jupiter leads the cohort of gas giants. Like Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the largest planet known to us does not have a solid surface.
The current three-layer model of the planet gives an idea of what Jupiter really is. Behind the outer gaseous shell that makes up the atmosphere of the gas giant is a layer of water ice. This is where the transparent part of the planet, visible to optical instruments, ends. It is technically impossible to determine what color the surface of the planet is. Even with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists were able to view only the upper layer of the atmosphere of a huge ball of gas.
Further, if you move towards the surface, a dark and hot world appears, which consists of ammonia crystals and dense metallic hydrogen. High temperatures (6000-21000 K) and enormous pressure exceeding 4000 GPa prevail here. The only solid element of the planet's structure is the rocky core. The presence of a rocky core, which has a small diameter compared to the size of the planet, gives the planet hydrodynamic equilibrium. It is thanks to him that the laws of conservation of mass and energy operate on Jupiter, keeping the giant in orbit and forcing it to rotate around its own axis. This giant does not have a clearly visible boundary between the atmosphere and the central, rest of the planet. In the scientific community, the conventional surface of the planet is considered to be where the pressure is 1 bar.
The pressure in the upper layers of Jupiter's atmosphere is low and amounts to only 1 atm. But the kingdom of cold reigns here, since the temperature does not drop below 130°C.
The atmosphere of Jupiter contains a huge amount of hydrogen, which is slightly diluted with helium and admixtures of ammonia and methane. This explains the colorfulness of the clouds that densely cover the planet. Scientists believe that such an accumulation of hydrogen occurred during the formation of the Solar System. Harder cosmic matter, under the influence of centrifugal forces, went into the formation of terrestrial planets, while lighter free gas molecules, under the influence of the same physical laws, began to accumulate into clumps. These gas particles became the building material from which all four giant planets are made.
The presence of such quantities of hydrogen on the planet, which is the basic element of water, suggests the existence of huge quantities of water resources on Jupiter. In practice, it turns out that sudden temperature changes and physical conditions on the planet do not allow water molecules to pass from a gaseous and solid state to a liquid.
Astrophysical parameters of Jupiter
The fifth planet is also interesting for its astrophysical parameters. Being behind the asteroid belt, Jupiter conventionally divides the solar system into two parts, exerting a strong influence on all space objects within its sphere of influence. The closest planet to Jupiter is Mars, which is constantly under the influence of the magnetic field and gravitational force of the huge planet. Jupiter's orbit has the shape of a regular ellipse and a slight eccentricity, only 0.0488. In this regard, Jupiter remains at the same distance from our star almost all the time. At perihelion, the planet is located at the center of the solar system at a distance of 740.5 million km, and at aphelion, Jupiter is at a distance from the Sun of 816.5 million km.
The giant moves quite slowly around the Sun. Its speed is only 13 km/s, while that of the Earth is almost three times higher (29.78 km/s). Jupiter completes its entire journey around our central star in 12 years. The speed of the planet’s movement around its own axis and the speed of the planet’s movement in orbit are strongly influenced by Jupiter’s neighbor, the huge Saturn.
The position of the planet’s axis is also surprising from the point of view of astrophysics. The equatorial plane of Jupiter is tilted from the orbital axis by only 3.13°. On our Earth, the axial deviation from the orbital plane is 23.45°. The planet seems to be lying on its side. Despite this, Jupiter rotates around its own axis at enormous speed, which leads to a natural compression of the planet. According to this indicator, the gas giant is the fastest in our star system. Jupiter rotates around its own axis for just under 10 hours. To be more precise, a cosmic day on the surface of the gas giant is 9 hours 55 minutes, while the Jovian year lasts 10,475 Earth days. Due to such features of the location of the rotation axis, there are no changes in seasons on Jupiter.
At the point of closest approach, Jupiter is at a distance of 740 million km from our planet. Modern space probes flying in outer space at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour overcome this path in different ways. The first spacecraft towards Jupiter, Pioneer 10, was launched in March 1972. The last of the devices launched towards Jupiter was the automatic Juno probe. The space probe was launched on August 5, 2011 and only five years later, in the summer of 2020, it reached the orbit of the “king planet”. During the flight, the Juno spacecraft traveled a distance of 2.8 billion km.
Moons of the planet Jupiter: why are there so many of them?
It is not difficult to guess that such an impressive size of the planet determines the presence of a large retinue. In count natural satellites Jupiter has no equal. There are 69 of them. This set also contains real giants, comparable in size to a full-fledged planet and very small, barely noticeable with the help of telescopes. Jupiter also has its own rings, similar to the ring system of Saturn. The rings of Jupiter are the smallest particle elements captured by the planet’s magnetic field directly from space during the formation of the planet.
Such a large number of satellites is explained by the fact that Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field, which has a huge impact on all neighboring objects. The gravitational force of the gas giant is so strong that it allows Jupiter to hold such a large family of satellites around it. In addition, the action of the planet’s magnetic field is quite enough to attract all wandering space objects. Jupiter serves as a cosmic shield in the solar system, catching comets and large asteroids from outer space. The relatively calm existence of the inner planets is explained precisely by this factor. The magnetosphere of the huge planet is several times more powerful than the Earth’s magnetic field.
Galileo Galilei first became acquainted with the satellites of the gas giant in 1610. Through his telescope, the scientist saw four satellites at once moving around a huge planet. This fact confirmed the idea of a heliocentric model of the solar system.
The size of these satellites is amazing, they can even compete with some planets of the solar system. For example, the satellite Ganymede is larger in size than Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system. Not far behind Mercury is another giant satellite, Callisto. Distinctive feature Jupiter's satellite system is that all planets orbiting the gas giant have a solid structure.
The sizes of the most famous moons of Jupiter are as follows:
- Ganymede has a diameter of 5260 km (Mercury's diameter is 4879 km);
- Callisto has a diameter of 4820 km;
- Io's diameter is 3642 km;
- Europe's diameter is 3122 km.
Some satellites are closer to the mother planet, others are further away. The history of the appearance of such large natural satellites has not yet been revealed. We are probably dealing with small planets that once orbited Jupiter in the neighborhood. Small satellites are fragments of destroyed comets arriving in the Solar System from the Oort cloud. An example is the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter, observed in 1994.
It is the satellites of Jupiter that are objects of interest to scientists, since they are more accessible and similar in structure to the terrestrial planets. The gas giant itself represents an environment hostile to humanity, where the existence of any known forms of life is unimaginable.
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If you look at the northwestern part of the sky after sunset (southwestern in the northern hemisphere), you will find one bright point of light that easily stands out in relation to everything around it. This is the planet, shining with intense and even light.
Today, people can explore this gas giant more than ever. After a five-year journey and decades of planning, NASA's Juno spacecraft has finally reached Jupiter's orbit.
Thus, humanity is witnessing the entry into a new stage of exploration of the largest of the gas giants in our solar system. But what do we know about Jupiter and with what basis should we enter this new scientific milestone?
Size matters
Jupiter is not only one of the brightest objects in the night sky, but also the largest planet in the solar system. It is thanks to its size that Jupiter is so bright. Moreover, the mass of the gas giant is more than twice the mass of all other planets, moons, comets and asteroids in our system combined.
Jupiter's enormous size suggests that it may have been the very first planet to form in the orbit of the Sun. The planets are thought to have emerged from debris left behind when an interstellar cloud of gas and dust coalesced during the formation of the Sun. Early in its life, our then-young star generated a wind that blew away most of the remaining interstellar cloud, but Jupiter was able to partially contain it.
Moreover, Jupiter contains the recipe for what the Solar System itself is made of - its components correspond to the content of other planets and small bodies, and the processes that occur on the planet are fundamental examples of the synthesis of materials for the formation of such amazing and diverse worlds as the planets of the Solar System .
King of the Planets
Given its excellent visibility, Jupiter, along with , and , has been observed by people in the night sky since ancient times. Regardless of culture and religion, humanity considered these objects unique. Even then, observers noted that they do not remain motionless within the patterns of constellations, like stars, but move according to certain laws and rules. Therefore, ancient Greek astronomers classified these planets as so-called “wandering stars,” and later the term “planet” itself emerged from this name.
What is remarkable is how accurately ancient civilizations identified Jupiter. Not knowing then that it was the largest and most massive of the planets, they named this planet in honor of the Roman king of the gods, who was also the god of the sky. IN ancient greek mythology Jupiter's analogue is Zeus, the supreme deity of Ancient Greece.
However, Jupiter is not the brightest of the planets; that record belongs to Venus. There are strong differences in the trajectories of Jupiter and Venus across the sky, and scientists have already explained why this is due. It turns out that Venus, being an inner planet, is located close to the Sun and appears as an evening star after sunset or a morning star before sunrise, while Jupiter, being an outer planet, is able to wander throughout the entire sky. It was this movement, along with the planet's high brightness, that helped ancient astronomers mark Jupiter as the King of the Planets.
In 1610, from late January to early March, astronomer Galileo Galilei observed Jupiter using his new telescope. He easily identified and tracked the first three and then four bright points of light in his orbit. They formed a straight line on either side of Jupiter, but their positions were constantly and steadily changing in relation to the planet.
In his work called Sidereus Nuncius (Interpretation of the Stars, Latin 1610), Galileo confidently and completely correctly explained the movement of objects in orbit around Jupiter. Later, it was his conclusions that became proof that all objects in the sky do not rotate in orbit, which led to the conflict between the astronomer and the Catholic Church.
So, Galileo managed to discover the four main satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - satellites that today scientists call the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Decades later, astronomers were able to identify the remaining satellites, the total number of which is currently 67, which is the largest number of satellites in orbit of a planet in the Solar System.
Great red spot
Saturn has rings, Earth has blue oceans, and Jupiter has strikingly bright and swirling clouds formed by the gas giant's very rapid rotation on its axis (every 10 hours). The formations in the form of spots observed on its surface represent the formation of dynamic weather conditions in the clouds of Jupiter.
For scientists, the question remains how deep to the surface of the planet these clouds extend. The so-called Great Red Spot, a huge storm on Jupiter discovered on its surface back in 1664, is believed to be constantly shrinking and shrinking in size. But even now, this massive storm system is about twice the size of Earth.
Recent observations from the Hubble Space Telescope indicate that the object's size may have halved since the 1930s, when consistent observation of the object began. Currently, many researchers say that the reduction in the size of the Great Red Spot is happening at an increasingly rapid pace.
Radiation hazard
Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field of all the planets. At the poles of Jupiter, the magnetic field is 20 thousand times stronger than on Earth, it extends millions of kilometers into space, reaching the orbit of Saturn.
The core of Jupiter's magnetic field is believed to be a layer of liquid hydrogen hidden deep within the planet. Hydrogen is under this high pressure that it turns into a liquid state. So, given that the electrons inside hydrogen atoms are able to move around, it takes on the characteristics of a metal and is able to conduct electricity. Given Jupiter's rapid rotation, such processes create an ideal environment for creating a powerful magnetic field.
Jupiter's magnetic field is a real trap for charged particles (electrons, protons and ions), some of which enter it from the solar winds, and others from Jupiter's Galilean moons, in particular from the volcanic Io. Some of these particles move towards Jupiter's poles, creating spectacular auroras around them that are 100 times brighter than those on Earth. The other part of the particles that are captured by Jupiter's magnetic field forms its radiation belts, which are many times greater than any version of the Van Allen belts on Earth. Jupiter's magnetic field accelerates these particles to such an extent that they move through the belts at almost the speed of light, creating the most dangerous radiation zones in the solar system.
Weather on Jupiter
The weather on Jupiter, like everything else about the planet, is very majestic. Storms are constantly raging above the surface, constantly changing their shape, growing thousands of kilometers in just a few hours, and their winds swirl clouds at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour. It is here that the so-called Great Red Spot is present, which is a storm that has lasted for several hundred Earth years.
Jupiter is wrapped in clouds consisting of ammonia crystals, which can be seen as stripes of yellow, brown and white colors. Clouds tend to be located at certain latitudes, also known as tropical regions. These stripes are formed by blowing air in different directions at different latitudes. The lighter shades of the areas where the atmosphere rises are called zones. Dark regions where air currents descend are called belts.
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When these opposing currents interact, storms and turbulence occur. The depth of the cloud layer is only 50 kilometers. It consists of at least two levels of clouds: the lower, denser one, and the upper, thinner one. Some scientists believe there is still a thin layer of water clouds underneath the ammonia layer. Lightning on Jupiter can be a thousand times more powerful than lightning on Earth, and there is practically no good weather on the planet.
Although most of us think of Saturn with its pronounced rings when we think of rings around a planet, Jupiter has them too. Jupiter's rings are mostly composed of dust, making them difficult to see. The formation of these rings is believed to have occurred due to Jupiter's gravity, which captured material ejected from its moons as a result of their collisions with asteroids and comets.
Planet is a record holder
To summarize, we can say with confidence that Jupiter is the largest, most massive, fastest rotating, and most dangerous planet in the solar system. It has the strongest magnetic field and the largest number of known satellites. In addition, it is believed that it was he who captured untouched gas from the interstellar cloud that gave birth to our Sun.
This gas giant's strong gravitational influence helped move material in our solar system, drawing ice, water and organic molecules from the cold outer regions of the solar system into the inner part, where these valuable materials could be captured by Earth's gravitational field. This is also indicated by the fact that The first planets that astronomers discovered in the orbits of other stars almost always belonged to the class of so-called hot Jupiters - exoplanets whose masses are similar to the mass of Jupiter, and the location of their stars in the orbit is quite close, which causes a high surface temperature.
And now, when the Juno spacecraft is already in orbit of this majestic gas giant, scientific world the opportunity has arisen to find out some of the secrets of the formation of Jupiter. Will the theory that did it all start with a rocky core that then attracted a huge atmosphere, or is Jupiter's origin more like a star formed from a solar nebula? Scientists plan to answer these other questions during Juno's next 18-month mission. dedicated to a detailed study of the King of the Planets.
The first recorded mention of Jupiter was among the ancient Babylonians in the 7th or 8th century BC. Jupiter is named after the king of the Roman gods and the god of the sky. The Greek equivalent is Zeus, the lord of lightning and thunder. Among the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, this deity was known as Marduk, the patron saint of the city of Babylon. The Germanic tribes called the planet Donar, which was also known as Thor.
Galileo's discovery of the four moons of Jupiter in 1610 was the first evidence of the rotation of celestial bodies not only in the orbit of the Earth. This discovery It also became additional evidence for the heliocentric model of the Copernican solar system.
Of the eight planets in the solar system, Jupiter has the shortest day. The planet rotates at a very high speed and rotates around its axis every 9 hours and 55 minutes. This rapid rotation causes the planet to flatten, which is why it sometimes looks flattened.
One revolution in Jupiter's orbit around the Sun takes 11.86 Earth years. This means that when viewed from Earth, the planet appears to be moving very slowly in the sky. Jupiter takes months to move from one constellation to another.
Jupiter has a small ring system around it. Its rings are mainly composed of dust particles emitted from some of its moons during impacts from comets and asteroids. The ring system begins about 92,000 kilometers above Jupiter's clouds and extends more than 225,000 kilometers from the planet's surface. The total thickness of Jupiter's rings is in the range of 2,000-12,500 kilometers.
There are currently 67 known satellites of Jupiter. These include the four large moons, also known as the Galilean moons, discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610.
Jupiter's largest moon is Ganymede, which is also the largest moon in the solar system. Jupiter's four largest moons (Gannymede, Callisto, Io and Europa) are larger than Mercury, which has a diameter of about 5,268 kilometers.
Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in our solar system. It takes its place of honor after the Sun, Moon and Venus. In addition, Jupiter is one of the brightest objects that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
Jupiter has a unique cloud layer. The planet's upper atmosphere is divided into zones and cloud belts, which consist of crystals of ammonia, sulfur and a mixture of these two compounds.
On Jupiter there is a Great Red Spot - a huge storm that has been raging for more than three hundred years. This storm is so vast that it can accommodate three Earth-sized planets at once.
If Jupiter were 80 times more massive, nuclear fusion would occur within its core, turning the planet into a star.
Photo of Jupiter
The first photographs of Jupiter taken by the Juno spacecraft were published in August 2016. See how magnificent the planet Jupiter is, as we have never seen it before.
Real photo of Jupiter taken by the Juno probe
“The largest planet in the solar system is truly unique,” says Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission.
Plus
Superlatives are often used when describing this gas giant. This is because Jupiter is not only the largest object in the entire solar system, but also the most mysterious. And also the first in mass, rotational speed and second in brightness. If you add together all the planets, moons, asteroids, comets of the system, Jupiter will still be larger than them combined. It is mysterious because the constituent components of this object are contained in the substance from which the entire solar system is made. And everything that happens on the surface and in the depths of the giant can be considered an example of the synthesis of materials that occurs during the formation of planets and galaxies.
If Jupiter were even more massive and larger, it could well be a “brown dwarf”.
This giant is a real defender of the Earth: all comets flying towards it are attracted by its powerful gravity.
History of discovery
Jupiter ranks second in the brightness ranking after Venus. Therefore, it, like the other four planets, can be seen directly from the surface of the Earth without any optical equipment. That is why not a single scientist can take credit for his discovery, which, apparently, belongs to even the most ancient tribes.
But the first scientist to begin systematic observation of the giant was the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. In 1610, he discovered the first satellites orbiting the planet. And they revolved around Jupiter. He named these four Ganymede, Io, Europa, Callisto. This discovery was the very first in the history of all astronomy, and the satellites later began to be called Galilean.
The discovery gave confidence to scientists who consider themselves heliocentrists, and allowed them to enter into the fight with adherents of other theories with renewed vigor. When optical instruments became more advanced, the size of the star was established, and the Great Red Spot, originally considered an island in the giant Jovian ocean, was discovered.
Research
In the period from 1972 to 1974, two Pioneer spacecraft visited the planet. They managed to observe the planet itself, its asteroid belt, record radiation and a powerful magnetic field, which allowed them to assume that there was a liquid inside the planet capable of conducting electric current. The second Pioneer spacecraft gave impetus to scientific "suspicions" that Jupiter has rings.
Launched in 1977, Voyagers reached Jupiter only two years later. It was they who sent to Earth the first, stunningly beautiful photographs of the planet, confirmed the presence of rings, and also allowed scientists to gain confidence in the idea that Jovian atmospheric processes are many times more powerful and grandiose than those on Earth.
In 1989, the Galileo spacecraft flew to the planet. But only in 1995 was he able to send a probe to the giant, which began collecting information about the atmosphere of the star. Subsequently, scientists were able to continue systematic studies of the giant using the Hubble orbital telescope.
The gas giant generates such strong radiation that spacecraft “do not risk” flying too close to it: on-board electronics may fail.
Characteristics
The planet has the following physical characteristics:
- The radius of the equator is 71,492 kilometers (error 4 kilometers).
- The radius of the poles is 66,854 kilometers (error 10 kilometers).
- Surface area - 6.21796⋅1010 km².
- Weight - 1.8986⋅1027 kg.
- Volume - 1.43128⋅1015 km³.
- Rotational period - 9.925 hours.
- Rings available
Jupiter is the largest, fastest and most dangerous object in our system due to its strong magnetic field. The planet has the most big number known satellites. Among other things, scientists believe that it was this gas giant that captured and retained untouched interstellar gas from the cloud that gave birth to our Sun.
But despite all these superlatives, Jupiter is not a star. To do this, it needs to have greater mass and heat, without which the fusion of hydrogen atoms and the formation of helium is impossible. To become a star, scientists believe, Jupiter must increase in mass by about 80 times. Then it will be possible to launch thermonuclear fusion. Still, Jupiter now produces some heat because it has a compression of gravity. This reduces the volume of the body, but contributes to its heating.
Movement
Jupiter is not only gigantic in size, but also in its atmosphere. It consists of 90 percent hydrogen and 10 percent helium. Because this object is a gas giant, the atmosphere and the rest of the planet are not shared. Moreover, when lowering down to the center, hydrogen and helium change their temperature and density. Because of this, Jupiter's atmosphere is divided into four parts:
- troposphere;
- stratosphere;
- thermosphere;
- exosphere.
Since Jupiter does not have the usual solid surface, scientists generally consider it to be the lower atmospheric boundary at the point where the pressure is one bar. As the altitude decreases, the temperature of the atmosphere also decreases, dropping to a minimum. The troposphere and stratosphere of Jupiter are separated by the tropopause, which is located at a distance of 50 kilometers above the so-called “surface” of the planet.
The giant's atmosphere contains small amounts of methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen sulfide. These compounds are the reason for the formation of very picturesque clouds that can be seen from the surface of the Earth through telescopes. It is not possible to accurately determine the color of Jupiter. But from an artistic point of view, it is red and white with light and dark stripes.
The visible parallel bands of Jupiter are ammonia clouds. Scientists call the dark stripes poles, and the light stripes zones. And they alternate with each other. Moreover, only dark stripes consist entirely of ammonia. What substance or compound is responsible for light tone, not yet installed.
Jovian weather, like everything else on this planet, can only be described using superlatives. The surface of the planet is filled with gigantic storms that do not stop for a second, constantly changing their shape, capable of increasing to a thousand kilometers in just a matter of hours. The winds on Jupiter blow at a speed of just over 350 kilometers per hour.
The most magnificent storm in the Universe is also present on Jupiter. This is the Great Red Spot. It has not stopped for several hundred Earth years, and its winds accelerate to 432 kilometers per hour. The size of the storm is capable of containing three Earths, they are so huge.
Satellites
The largest satellites of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo in 1610, became the first satellites in the history of astronomy. These are Ganymede, Io, Europa and Callisto. In addition to them, the most studied satellites of the giant are Thebe, Amalthea, the Rings of Jupiter, Himalia, Lysithea, and Metis. These bodies were formed from gas and dust - elements that surrounded the planet after the end of its formation process. Many decades passed before scientists discovered the remaining moons of Jupiter, of which there are sixty-seven today. No other planet has so many known satellites. And, probably, this number may not be final.
Ganymede is not only the largest moon of Jupiter, but also the largest in the entire solar system. If it revolved not around a gas giant, but around the Sun, scientists would classify this body as a planet. The diameter of the object is 5268 km. It exceeds the diameter of Titan by 2 percent and the diameter of Mercury by 8 percent. The satellite is located just over a million kilometers from the planet's surface, and is the only satellite in the entire system that has its own magnetosphere.
The surface of Ganymede consists of 60 percent unexplored ice strips and forty percent ancient ice “shell” or crust covered with countless craters. The age of the ice strips is three and a half billion years. They appeared due to geological processes, the activity of which is now questioned.
The main element of Ganymede's atmosphere is oxygen, which makes it similar to the atmosphere of Europa. The craters on the surface of the satellite are almost flat, without a central depression. This happened because the soft icy surface of the satellite continues to move slowly.
Jupiter's moon Io has volcanic activity, and the mountains on its surface reach a height of 16 kilometers.
As scientists suggest, on Europa under a layer surface ice There is an ocean in which water is in a liquid state.
Rings
Jupiter's rings are formed from dust, which is why they are so difficult to distinguish. The planet's satellites collided with comets and asteroids, resulting in material being thrown into space, which was captured by the planet's gravity. This is exactly how, according to scientists, the rings formed. It is a system consisting of four components:
- Torus or Halo (thick ring);
- Main ring (thin);
- Spider ring 1 (transparent, made of Thebe material);
- Spider ring 2 (transparent, made of Amalthea material);
The visible part of the spectrum, close to infrared, makes the three rings appear red. The Halo Ring is blue or almost neutral in color. The total mass of the rings has not yet been calculated. But there is an opinion that it ranges from 1011 to 1016 kilograms. The age of the Jovian ring system is also not precisely known. Presumably they have existed since the formation of the planet was finally completed.
268.057°
0.52 (geo.albedo)
The planet has been known to people since ancient times and is reflected in the mythology and religious beliefs of many cultures.
Jupiter is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Most likely, in the center of the planet there is a rocky core of heavier elements under high pressure. Due to its rapid rotation, Jupiter's shape is an oblate spheroid (it has a significant bulge around the equator). The planet's outer atmosphere is clearly divided into several elongated bands along latitudes, and this leads to storms and storms along their interacting boundaries. A notable result of this is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that has been known since the 17th century. According to data from the Galileo lander, pressure and temperature increase rapidly as one goes deeper into the atmosphere. Jupiter has a powerful magnetosphere.
Jupiter's satellite system consists of at least 63 moons, including 4 large moons, also called "Galileans", which were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Jupiter's moon Ganymede has a diameter greater than that of Mercury. A global ocean has been discovered beneath the surface of Europa, and Io is known for having the most powerful volcanoes in the solar system. Jupiter has faint planetary rings.
Jupiter has been explored by eight NASA interplanetary probes. Highest value had research using the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft, and later Galileo, which dropped a probe into the planet’s atmosphere. The last vehicle to visit Jupiter was the New Horizons probe, heading to Pluto.
Observation
Planet parameters
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Its equatorial radius is 71.4 thousand km, which is 11.2 times the radius of the Earth.
The mass of Jupiter is more than 2 times the total mass of all other planets in the solar system, 318 times the mass of the Earth and only 1000 times less than the mass of the Sun. If Jupiter were about 60 times more massive, it could become a star. The density of Jupiter is approximately equal to the density of the Sun and is significantly inferior to the density of the Earth.
The equatorial plane of the planet is close to the plane of its orbit, so there are no seasons on Jupiter.
Jupiter rotates around its axis, and not like a rigid body: the angular velocity of rotation decreases from the equator to the poles. At the equator, a day lasts about 9 hours 50 minutes. Jupiter rotates faster than any other planet in the solar system. Due to the rapid rotation, the polar compression of Jupiter is very noticeable: the polar radius is 4.6 thousand km less than the equatorial radius (that is, 6.5%).
All we can observe on Jupiter are the clouds of the upper atmosphere. The giant planet consists mainly of gas and does not have the solid surface we are accustomed to.
Jupiter releases 2-3 times more energy than it receives from the Sun. This may be explained by the gradual compression of the planet, the sinking of helium and heavier elements, or the processes of radioactive decay in the bowels of the planet.
Most of the currently known exoplanets are comparable in mass and size to Jupiter, so its mass is ( MJ) and radius ( RJ) are widely used as convenient units of measurement to indicate their parameters.
Internal structure
Jupiter is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Under the clouds there is a layer 7-25 thousand km deep, in which hydrogen gradually changes its state from gas to liquid with increasing pressure and temperature (up to 6000 °C). There appears to be no clear boundary separating gaseous hydrogen from liquid hydrogen. It should look like a continuous boiling of the global hydrogen ocean.
Model of Jupiter's internal structure: a rocky core surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen.
Under the liquid hydrogen there is a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen with a thickness, according to theoretical models, of about 30-50 thousand km. Liquid metallic hydrogen forms at pressures of several million atmospheres. Protons and electrons exist separately in it, and it is a good conductor of electricity. Powerful electric currents arising in the layer of metallic hydrogen generate Jupiter's gigantic magnetic field.
Scientists believe that Jupiter has a solid rocky core made of heavy elements (heavier than helium). Its dimensions are 15-30 thousand km in diameter, the core has a high density. According to theoretical calculations, the temperature at the boundary of the planet’s core is about 30,000 K, and the pressure is 30-100 million atmospheres.
Measurements made both from Earth and from probes have found that the energy Jupiter emits, mainly in the form of infrared radiation, is approximately 1.5 times greater than that it receives from the Sun. From this it is clear that Jupiter has a significant reserve of thermal energy formed during the compression of matter during the formation of the planet. In general, it is believed that the interior of Jupiter is still very hot - about 30,000 K.
Atmosphere
Jupiter's atmosphere consists of hydrogen (81% by number of atoms and 75% by mass) and helium (18% by number of atoms and 24% by mass). The share of other substances accounts for no more than 1%. The atmosphere contains methane, water vapor, and ammonia; There are also traces of organic compounds, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, sulfur. The outer layers of the atmosphere contain crystals of frozen ammonia.
Clouds at different heights have their own color. The highest of them are red, a little lower are white, even lower are brown, and in the lowest layer are bluish.
Jupiter's reddish color variations may be due to the presence of compounds of phosphorus, sulfur and carbon. Since color can vary greatly, hence the chemical composition of the atmosphere also varies from place to place. For example, there are “dry” and “wet” areas with different amounts of water vapor.
The temperature of the outer layer of clouds is about −130 °C, but increases rapidly with depth. According to data from the Galileo lander, at a depth of 130 km the temperature is +150 °C, the pressure is 24 atmospheres. The pressure at the upper boundary of the cloud layer is about 1 atm, i.e., the same as at the surface of the Earth. Galileo discovered "warm spots" along the equator. Apparently, in these places the outer cloud layer is thin and warmer inner areas can be seen.
Wind speeds on Jupiter can exceed 600 km/h. Atmospheric circulation is determined by two main factors. Firstly, Jupiter's rotation in the equatorial and polar regions is not the same, so atmospheric structures stretch into stripes that encircle the planet. Secondly, there is temperature circulation due to the heat released from the depths. Unlike the Earth (where atmospheric circulation occurs due to the difference in solar heating in the equatorial and polar regions), on Jupiter the effect of solar radiation on temperature circulation is insignificant.
Convective flows that carry internal heat to the surface appear externally as light zones and dark belts. In the area of light zones it is noted high blood pressure, corresponding to upward flows. The clouds forming the zones are located at more high level(about 20 km), and their light color is apparently explained by an increased concentration of bright white ammonia crystals. The dark clouds of the belts located below are presumably composed of red-brown crystals of ammonium hydrosulfide and have a higher temperature. These structures represent areas of downdrafts. Zones and belts have different speeds of movement in the direction of Jupiter's rotation. The orbital period varies by several minutes depending on latitude. This results in the existence of stable zonal currents or winds that constantly blow parallel to the equator in one direction. Velocities in this global system reach from 50 to 150 m/s and higher. At the boundaries of belts and zones, strong turbulence is observed, which leads to the formation of numerous vortex structures. The most famous such formation is the Great Red Spot, which has been observed on the surface of Jupiter for the last 300 years.
In the atmosphere of Jupiter, lightning is observed, the power of which is three orders of magnitude higher than that of Earth, as well as auroras. In addition, the Chandra orbital telescope discovered a source of pulsating X-ray radiation (called the Great X-ray Spot), the causes of which are still a mystery.
Great red spot
The Great Red Spot is an oval formation of varying sizes located in the southern tropical zone. Currently, it has dimensions of 15 × 30 thousand km (significantly larger than the size of the Earth), and 100 years ago observers noted 2 times big sizes. Sometimes it is not very clearly visible. The Great Red Spot is a unique long-lived giant hurricane (anticyclone), the substance in which rotates counterclockwise and completes a full revolution in 6 Earth days. It is characterized by upward currents in the atmosphere. The clouds in it are located higher, and their temperature is lower than in neighboring areas.
Magnetic field and magnetosphere
Life on Jupiter
At present, the presence of life on Jupiter seems unlikely due to the low concentration of water in the atmosphere and the absence of a solid surface. In the 1970s, American astronomer Carl Sagan raised the possibility of ammonia-based life in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. It should be noted that even at shallow depths in the Jovian atmosphere, the temperature and density are quite high, and the possibility of at least chemical evolution cannot be excluded, since the speed and probability of chemical reactions favor this. However, the existence of water-hydrocarbon life on Jupiter is also possible: in the atmospheric layer containing clouds of water vapor, the temperature and pressure are also very favorable.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy
A trace from one of the comet fragments.
In July 1992, a comet approached Jupiter. It passed at a distance of about 15 thousand kilometers from the top of the clouds and the powerful gravitational influence of the giant planet tore its core into 17 large pieces. This comet swarm was discovered at Mount Palomar Observatory by spouses Caroline and Eugene Shoemaker and amateur astronomer David Levy. In 1994, during the next approach to Jupiter, all the debris of the comet crashed into the planet's atmosphere at a tremendous speed - about 64 kilometers per second. This enormous cosmic cataclysm was observed both from Earth and by space means, in particular, with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, the IUE infrared satellite and the Galileo interplanetary space station. The fall of the nuclei was accompanied by interesting atmospheric effects, for example, auroras, black spots in the places where comet nuclei fell, and climate changes.
A spot near Jupiter's South Pole.
Notes
Links
|
Satellites Jupiter Listing in groups in order of increasing semi-major axis of the orbit |
|
|---|---|
| Internal satellites | Metis Adrastea Amalthea Thebe |
| Galilean satellites | Io Europa Ganymede Callisto |
| Themisto Group | Themisto |
| Himalia Group | Leda · Himalia · Lysithea · Elara · S/2000 J 11 |
| Karpo Group | Karpo · S/2003 J 12 |
| Ananke Group | Euporie · S/2003 J 3 · S/2003 J 18 · Telxine · Evante · Helike · Orthosie · Jocaste · S/2003 J 16 · Praxidike · Harpalyke · Mneme · Hermippe · Tione · Ananke |
| Karme Group | Herse · Etne · Calais · Taygete · S/2003 J 19 · Haldene · S/2003 J 10 · |
The name "Jupiter" is the largest of the eight planets in the solar system. Known since ancient times, Jupiter is still of great interest to humanity. The study of the planet, its satellites and related processes is actively taking place in our time, and will not be stopped in the future.
origin of name
Jupiter received its name in honor of the deity of the same name in the ancient Roman pantheon. In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the supreme god, ruler of the sky and the whole world. Along with his brothers Pluto and Neptune, he belonged to the group of main gods who were the most powerful. The prototype of Jupiter was Zeus, the main of the Olympian gods in the beliefs of the ancient Greeks.
Names in other cultures
In the ancient world, the planet Jupiter was known not only to the Romans. For example, the inhabitants of the Babylonian kingdom identified it with their supreme god - Marduk - and called it “Mula Babbar”, which meant “white star”. The Greeks, as is already clear, associated Jupiter with Zeus; in Greece the planet was called the “star of Zeus.” Astronomers from China called Jupiter "Sui Xing", that is, "Star of the Year".
An interesting fact is that Indian tribes also conducted observations of Jupiter. For example, the Incas called the giant planet “Pirva,” which meant “warehouse, barn” in the Quechua language. Probably the chosen name was due to the fact that the Indians observed not only the planet itself, but also some of its satellites.
About the characteristics
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, its “neighbors” are Saturn and Mars. The planet belongs to the group of gas giants, which, unlike terrestrial planets, consist mainly of gaseous elements, and therefore have a low density and faster daily rotation.
The size of Jupiter makes it a real giant. The radius of its equator is 71,400 kilometers, which is 11 times greater than the radius of the Earth. The mass of Jupiter is 1.8986 x 1027 kilograms, which even exceeds the total mass of the other planets.
Structure
To date, there are several models of the possible structure of Jupiter, but the most recognized three-layer model is as follows:
- Atmosphere. It consists of three layers: outer hydrogen; medium hydrogen-helium; the lower one is hydrogen-helium with other impurities. An interesting fact is that under the layer of opaque clouds of Jupiter there is a hydrogen layer (from 7,000 to 25,000 kilometers), which gradually changes from a gaseous state to a liquid, while its pressure and temperature increase. There are no clear boundaries for the transition from gas to liquid, that is, something like a constant “boiling” of an ocean of hydrogen occurs.
- A layer of metallic hydrogen. The approximate thickness is from 42 to 26 thousand kilometers. Metallic hydrogen is a product that is formed at high pressure (about 1,000,000 At) and high temperature.
- Core. The estimated size exceeds the diameter of the Earth by 1.5 times, and the mass is 10 times greater than that of the Earth. The mass and size of the core can be determined by studying the inertial moments of the planet.
Rings
Saturn was not the only one with rings. They were later discovered near Uranus and then Jupiter. The rings of Jupiter are divided into:
- Main. Width: 6,500 km. Radius: from 122,500 to 129,000 km. Thickness: from 30 to 300 km.
- Arachnoid. Width: 53,000 (Ring of Amalthea) and 97,000 (Ring of Thebes) km. Radius: from 129,000 to 182,000 (Amalthea ring) and 129,000 to 226,000 (Thebes ring) km. Thickness: 2000 (ring of Amateri) and 8400 (ring of Thebes) km.
- Halo. Width: 30,500 km. Radius: from 92,000 to 122,500 km. Thickness: 12,500 km.
For the first time, Soviet astronomers made assumptions about the presence of rings on Jupiter, but they were first discovered by the Voyager 1 space probe in 1979.
History of origin and evolution
Today science has two theories of the origin and evolution of the gas giant.
Contraction theory
This hypothesis was based on the similarity chemical composition Jupiter and the Sun. The essence of the theory: when the Solar system was just beginning to form, large clumps formed in the protoplanetary disk, which then turned into the Sun and planets.
Accretion theory
The essence of the theory: the formation of Jupiter occurred over two periods. During the first period, the formation of rocky planets, such as terrestrial planets, took place. During the second period, the process of accretion (that is, attraction) of gas by these cosmic bodies took place, thus forming the planets Jupiter and Saturn.
Brief history of the study
As it becomes clear, Jupiter was first noticed by peoples ancient world who were monitoring him. However, truly serious research into the giant planet began in the 17th century. It was at this time that Galileo Galilei invented his telescope and began studying Jupiter, during which he managed to discover the four largest satellites of the planet.
Next was Giovanni Cassini, a French-Italian engineer and astronomer. He first noticed stripes and spots on Jupiter.
In the 17th century, Ole Roemer studied the eclipses of the planet's satellites, which allowed him to calculate the exact position of its satellites and, ultimately, establish the speed of light.
Later, the advent of powerful telescopes and spacecraft made the study of Jupiter very active. The leading role was taken by the US aerospace agency NASA, which launched a huge number of space stations, probes and other devices. With the help of each of them, the most important data was obtained, which made it possible to study the processes occurring on Jupiter and its satellites and understand the mechanisms of their occurrence.
Some information about satellites
Today science knows 63 satellites of Jupiter - more than any other planet in the solar system. 55 of them are external, 8 are internal. However, scientists suggest that the total number of all satellites of the gas giant may exceed a hundred.
The largest and most famous are the so-called “Galilean” satellites. As the name implies, their discoverer was Galileo Galilei. These include: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa.
Question of life
At the end of the 20th century, astrophysicists from the United States admitted the possibility of the existence of life on Jupiter. In their opinion, its formation could be facilitated by ammonia and water vapor, which are present in the planet’s atmosphere.
However, there is no need to talk seriously about life on a giant planet. The gaseous state of Jupiter, the low level of water in the atmosphere and many other factors make such assumptions completely unfounded.
- In terms of brightness, Jupiter is second only to the Moon and Venus.
- A person weighing 100 kilograms would weigh 250 kilograms on Jupiter due to high gravity.
- Alchemists identified Jupiter with one of the main elements - tin.
- Astrology considers Jupiter the patron of the other planets.
- Jupiter's rotation cycle takes only ten hours.
- Jupiter revolves around the Sun every twelve years.
- Many of the planet's satellites are named after the mistresses of the god Jupiter.
- More than a thousand Earth-like planets could fit into the volume of Jupiter.
- There are no seasons on the planet.
