Jupiter Notes PDF

Jupiter Jupiter is called a gas giant planet and the fifth planet from our Sun. More than 1,300 Earths would fit inside Jupiter. Jupiter is named for the king of the ancient Roman gods.​ Its atmosphere is made up of mostly hydrogen gas and helium gas, like the sun. It has a very thick atmosphere. Th...

Jupiter Jupiter is called a gas giant planet and the fifth planet from our Sun. More than 1,300 Earths would fit inside Jupiter. Jupiter is named for the king of the ancient Roman gods.​ Its atmosphere is made up of mostly hydrogen gas and helium gas, like the sun. It has a very thick atmosphere. The planet is covered in thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds. The clouds make the planet look like it has stripes. From this distance, it takes Sunlight 43 minutes to travel from the Sun to Jupiter. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a centuries-old giant storm bigger than Earth. Jupiter is very windy. Its winds blow more than 400 mph. That is faster than hurricanes and tornadoes! Almost 3 1/2 Earths would fit across the storm. Jupiter has three thin rings. Its rings are not like Saturn’s rings. Jupiter’s rings are hard to see. NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft found the rings in 1979. Jupiter’s rings are made up mostly of tiny bits of dust. Jupiter's rings 1. Halo — This is a faint, wide doughnut-shaped ring, and the closest to Jupiter. 2. The Main ring — Extending out of the halo ring is the Main ring. The two small moons Adrastea and Metis orbit here within the main ring and are thought to be the source of dust of this ring. 3. Gossamer rings — These are very faint and wide composed of microscopic debris from the moons Amalthea and Thebe. The Gossamer rings extend beyond the orbit of the moon Amalthea. Photo: NASA JPL / Cornell University Jupiter rotates, or spins, faster than any other planet. Earth takes almost 24 hours to spin once. Jupiter only takes 10. So a day on Jupiter is about 10 hours long. It is so far from the sun that Jupiter takes 12 Earth years to make one trip around the sun. That means one year on Jupiter is 12 years on Earth. It is very cold on Jupiter. Gravity is different, too. There is more gravity on Jupiter than on Earth. Someone who weighs 100 pounds on Earth would weigh about 240 pounds on Jupiter. Jupiter's 4 biggest moons The planet’s four largest moons are Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa. 1. The largest of Jupiter’s moons is named Ganymede. It is the largest moon in the solar system. Ganymede is larger than Mercury and Pluto. 2. The moon Callisto is covered with craters. 3. The moon Io has a lot of volcanoes. The volcanoes produce gases containing sulfur. The yellow-orange surface of Io is most likely made of sulfur from the volcanic eruptions. 4. Europa is covered with water ice. Europa’s surface is mostly water ice. Beneath the ice may be an ocean of water or slushy ice. Europa is thought to have twice as much water as Earth. Photo: NASA Galilean moons are compared with moons of other planets and with Earth. Photo: Wikipedia Jupiter's Exploration NASA astronomers have used telescopes on Earth to study Jupiter. Astronomers also have used telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope that orbit Earth. From 1979 to 2007, NASA spacecraft studied Jupiter: 1. Pioneer 10 NASA's first spacecraft to visit the outer planets, Pioneer 10 was launched in March 1972 on a 21-month mission to Jupiter. It made its closest approach to Jupiter on Dec. 4, 1973. After successfully completing its mission at Jupiter, the spacecraft was put on a trajectory that will eventually take it out of the solar system. Pioneer 10 sent its last signal to Earth in January 2003 from a distance of 7.6 billion miles.  2. Pioneer 11 The sister spacecraft to Pioneer 10, it flew even closer to Jupiter in 1974 than its sibling had, passing while en route to its destination, Saturn. After studying the ringed planet, Pioneer 11 continued on a path that would eventually take it out of the solar system. 3. Voyager 1 As it flew by Jupiter in March 1979, Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around Jupiter, two new moons named Thebe and Metis, and active volcanoes on the volatile moon Io, before continuing on to Saturn and interstellar space. Photo: NASA 4. Voyager 2 Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to study all four giant planets. The second (2nd) spacecraft to enter interstellar space, the region outside the heliopause, or the bubble of energetic particles and magnetic fields from the Sun. Voyager 2 discovered a 14th moon at Jupiter. Photo: NASA The pioneering Voyager spacecraft are currently exploring the outermost edge of the sun’s domain. Voyager 1 is now zooming through interstellar space, the region between the stars that is filled with gas, dust, and material recycled from dying stars. 5. Galileo The Galileo was the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet. The mission consisted of two spacecraft: an orbiter and an atmospheric probe. Launched on Oct. 18, 1989, the spacecraft orbited Jupiter for almost eight years and made close passes by all the planet's major moons. Galileo was the first spacecraft to deploy and sent deep into the atmosphere of Jupiter. When the main spacecraft plunged into Jupiter's crushing atmosphere on Sept. 21, 2003, it was being deliberately destroyed to protect one of its key discoveries - a possible ocean beneath the icy crust of the moon Europa. Photo: NASA 6. Cassini Cassini spent about six months – from October 2000 to March 2001 – exploring the Jupiter system. NASA's Cassini spacecraft made its closest approach to Jupiter on its way to orbiting Saturn. The main purpose was to use the gravity of the largest planet in our solar system to slingshot Cassini towards Saturn, its ultimate destination. Photo: NASA 7. Juno A new spacecraft is now at Jupiter. Its name is Juno. NASA’s Juno spacecraft launched in 2011. On July 4, 2016, Juno arrived at Jupiter. It did not land. It is flying around, or orbiting, Jupiter. The goal of Juno is to help scientists better understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter and how planets form. Juno is scheduled to continue investigating the solar system’s largest planet, its moons, faint rings, and surrounding environment through September 2025. Why is it named Juno? Jupiter, king of the gods in Roman mythology, was also the god of the sky and storms. He once hid himself in a thin layer of clouds to hide his misbehavior. His wife, Juno, queen of the gods, noticed this sudden fog and grew suspicious; she swooped down from the heavens and broke through the haze to investigate and see Jupiter’s true nature. Like its namesake, NASA’s Juno spacecraft – flying low across the clouds that encircle the planet – peers through storms and cyclones to unveil Jupiter’s secrets. Photo: NASA  8. Europa Clipper NASA's Europa Clipper launched on Oct. 14, 2024, and will reach Jupiter in 2030. During dozens of flybys, the spacecraft will investigate Jupiter's icy moon Europa to determine whether there are places below the surface that could support life. Photo: NASA References: https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/ https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/exploration/ https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/does-jupiter-have-rings https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-1/ https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-2 https://science.nasa.gov/mission/juno/ https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper/ https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-provides-interstellar-road-map-for-voyagers-galactic-trek/