Jupiter

The Bringer of Jollity

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest. Jupiter is more than
twice as massive as all the other planets combined (the mass of Jupiter is 318 times
that of Earth).

orbit: 778,330,000 km (5.20 AU) from Sun

diameter: 142,984 km (equatorial)
mass: 1.900e27 kg
Hardcopy

The New Solar System

Summarizes what we've learned from interplanetary explorations in the last 25 years. My primary
reference for The Nine Planets.

The Moons of Jupiter

106 images of the Galilean moons from Galileo with unusual descriptive text.

Symphony No. 41 in C Major K. 551 ("Jupiter")

by W. A. Mozart; I am not sure what it has to do with the planet but it is one of Mozart's best. And that
is saying a lot!

Jupiter (a.k.a. Jove; Greek Zeus) was the King of the Gods, the ruler of
Olympus and the patron of the Roman state. Zeus was the son of Cronus (Saturn).

Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, the Moon and Venus).
It has been known since prehistoric times as a bright "wandering star". But in 1610
when Galileo first pointed a telescope at the sky he discovered Jupiter's four large
moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (now known as the Galilean moons) and
recorded their motions back and forth around Jupiter. This was the first discovery of a
center of motion not apparently centered on the Earth. It was a major point in favor of
Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the motions of the planets (along with other new
evidence from his telescope: the phases of Venus and the mountains on the Moon).
Galileo's outspoken support of the Copernican theory got him in trouble with the
Inquisition. Today anyone can repeat Galileo's observations (without fear of
retribution :-) using binoculars or an inexpensive telescope.

Jupiter was first visited by Pioneer 10 in 1973 and later by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1,
Voyager 2 and Ulysses. The spacecraft Galileo orbited Jupiter for eight years. It is still
regularly observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The gas planets do not have solid surfaces, their gaseous

material simply gets denser with depth (the radii and
diameters quoted for the planets are for levels corresponding
to a pressure of 1 atmosphere). What we see when looking at
these planets is the tops of clouds high in their atmospheres
(slightly above the 1 atmosphere level).

Jupiter is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium (by

numbers of atoms, 75/25% by mass) with traces of methane, water, ammonia and
"rock". This is very close to the composition of the primordial Solar Nebula from
which the entire solar system was formed. Saturn has a similar composition, but
Uranus and Neptune have much less hydrogen and helium.

Our knowledge of the interior of Jupiter (and the other gas planets) is highly
indirect and likely to remain so for some time. (The data from Galileo's atmospheric
probe goes down only about 150 km below the cloud tops.)

Jupiter probably has a core of rocky material amounting to something like 10 to 15

Earth-masses.

Above the core lies the main bulk of the planet in the form of liquid metallic
hydrogen. This exotic form of the most common of elements is possible only at
pressures exceeding 4 million bars, as is the case in the interior of Jupiter (and
Saturn). Liquid metallic hydrogen consists of ionized protons and electrons (like the
interior of the Sun but at a far lower temperature). At the temperature and pressure of
Jupiter's interior hydrogen is a liquid, not a gas. It is an electrical conductor and the
source of Jupiter's magnetic field. This layer probably also contains some helium and
traces of various "ices".

The outermost layer is composed primarily of ordinary molecular hydrogen and

helium which is liquid in the interior and gaseous further out. The atmosphere we see
is just the very top of this deep layer. Water, carbon dioxide, methane and other simple
molecules are also present in tiny amounts.

Recent experiments have shown that hydrogen does not change phase suddenly.
Therefore the interiors of the jovian planets probably have indistinct boundaries
between their various interior layers.

Three distinct layers of clouds are believed to exist consisting

of ammonia ice, ammonium hydrosulfide and a mixture of ice
and water. However, the preliminary results from the Galileo
probe show only faint indications of clouds (one instrument
seems to have detected the topmost layer while another may have
seen the second). But the probe's entry point (left) was unusual -- Earth-based
telescopic observations and more recent observations by the Galileo orbiter suggest
that the probe entry site may well have been one of the warmest and least cloudy areas
on Jupiter at that time.

Data from the Galileo atmospheric probe also indicate that there is much less water
than expected. The expectation was that Jupiter's atmosphere would contain about
twice the amount of oxygen (combined with the abundant hydrogen to make water) as
the Sun. But it now appears that the actual concentration much less than the Sun's.
Also surprising was the high temperature and density of the uppermost parts of the
atmosphere.

Jupiter and the other gas planets have high velocity winds which
are confined in wide bands of latitude. The winds blow in opposite
directions in adjacent bands. Slight chemical and temperature
differences between these bands are responsible for the colored bands
that dominate the planet's appearance. The light colored bands are
called zones; the dark ones belts. The bands have been known for
some time on Jupiter, but the complex vortices in the boundary regions between the
bands were first seen by Voyager. The data from the Galileo probe indicate that the
winds are even faster than expected (more than 400 mph) and extend down into as far
as the probe was able to observe; they may extend down thousands of kilometers into
the interior. Jupiter's atmosphere was also found to be quite turbulent. This indicates
that Jupiter's winds are driven in large part by its internal heat rather than from solar
input as on Earth.

The vivid colors seen in Jupiter's clouds are probably the result of subtle chemical
reactions of the trace elements in Jupiter's atmosphere, perhaps involving sulfur
whose compounds take on a wide variety of colors, but the details are unknown.

The colors correlate with the cloud's altitude: blue lowest, followed by browns and
whites, with reds highest. Sometimes we see the lower layers through holes in the
upper ones.

The Great Red Spot (GRS) has been seen by Earthly observers for
more than 300 years (its discovery is usually attributed to Cassini, or
Robert Hooke in the 17th century). The GRS is an oval about 12,000
by 25,000 km, big enough to hold two Earths. Other smaller but
similar spots have been known for decades. Infrared observations and
the direction of its rotation indicate that the GRS is a high-pressure
region whose cloud tops are significantly higher and colder than the surrounding
regions. Similar structures have been seen on Saturn and Neptune. It is not known
how such structures can persist for so long.

Jupiter radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. The interior
of Jupiter is hot: the core is probably about 20,000 K. The heat is generated by the
Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism, the slow gravitational compression of the planet.
(Jupiter does NOT produce energy by nuclear fusion as in the Sun; it is much too
small and hence its interior is too cool to ignite nuclear reactions.) This interior heat
probably causes convection deep within Jupiter's liquid layers and is probably
responsible for the complex motions we see in the cloud tops. Saturn and Neptune are
similar to Jupiter in this respect, but oddly, Uranus is not.

Jupiter is just about as large in diameter as a gas planet can be. If more material
were to be added, it would be compressed by gravity such that the overall radius
would increase only slightly. A star can be larger only because of its internal (nuclear)
heat source. (But Jupiter would have to be at least 80 times more massive to become a
star.)

Jupiter has a huge magnetic field, much stronger than Earth's. Its magnetosphere
extends more than 650 million km (past the orbit of Saturn!). (Note that Jupiter's
magnetosphere is far from spherical -- it extends "only" a few million kilometers in
the direction toward the Sun.) Jupiter's moons therefore lie within its magnetosphere,
a fact which may partially explain some of the activity on Io. Unfortunately for future
space travelers and of real concern to the designers of the Voyager and Galileo
spacecraft, the environment near Jupiter contains high levels of energetic particles
trapped by Jupiter's magnetic field. This "radiation" is similar to, but much more
intense than, that found within Earth's Van Allen belts. It would be immediately fatal
to an unprotected human being.
The Galileo atmospheric probe discovered a new intense radiation belt between
Jupiter's ring and the uppermost atmospheric layers. This new belt is approximately
10 times as strong as Earth's Van Allen radiation belts. Surprisingly, this new belt was
also found to contain high energy helium ions of unknown origin.

Jupiter has rings like Saturn's, but much fainter and smaller
(right). They were totally unexpected and were only
discovered when two of the Voyager 1 scientists insisted that
after traveling 1 billion km it was at least worth a quick look
to see if any rings might be present. Everyone else thought
that the chance of finding anything was nil, but there they
were. It was a major coup. They have since been imaged in the infra-red from ground-
based observatories and by Galileo.

Unlike Saturn's, Jupiter's rings are dark (albedo about .05). They're probably
composed of very small grains of rocky material. Unlike Saturn's rings, they seem to
contain no ice.

Particles in Jupiter's rings probably don't stay there for long (due to atmospheric
and magnetic drag). The Galileo spacecraft found clear evidence that the rings are
continuously resupplied by dust formed by micrometeor impacts on the four inner
moons, which are very energetic because of Jupiter's large gravitational field. The
inner halo ring is broadened by interactions with Jupiter's magnetic field.

In July 1994, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with

Jupiter with spectacular results (left). The effects were clearly
visible even with amateur telescopes. The debris from the
collision was visible for nearly a year afterward with HST.

When it is in the nighttime sky, Jupiter is often the brightest

"star" in the sky (it is second only to Venus, which is seldom
visible in a dark sky). The four Galilean moons are easily visible with binoculars; a
few bands and the Great Red Spot can be seen with a small astronomical telescope.
There are several Web sites that show the current position of Jupiter (and the other
planets) in the sky. More detailed and customized charts can be created with a
planetarium program.

Jupiter's Satellites
Jupiter has 63 known satellites (as of Feb 2004):
the four large Galilean moons plus many more
small ones some of which have not yet been
named:
 Jupiter is very gradually slowing down
due to the tidal drag produced by the
Galilean satellites. Also, the same tidal
forces are changing the orbits of the
moons, very slowly forcing them farther from Jupiter.
 Io, Europa and Ganymede are locked together in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance and
their orbits evolve together. Callisto is almost part of this as well. In a few
hundred million years, Callisto will be locked in too, orbiting at exactly twice
the period of Ganymede (eight times the period of Io).
 Jupiter's satellites are named for other figures in the life of Zeus (mostly his
numerous lovers).
 Many more small moons have been discovered recently but have not as yet
been officially confirmed or named. The most up to date info on them can be
found at Scott Sheppard's site.

Distance Radius Mass

Satellite (000 km) (km) (kg) Discoverer Date
--------- -------- ------ ------- ---------- -----
Metis 128 20 9.56e16 Synnott 1979
Adrastea 129 10 1.91e16 Jewitt 1979
Amalthea 181 98 7.17e18 Barnard 1892
Thebe 222 50 7.77e17 Synnott 1979
Io 422 1815 8.94e22 Galileo 1610
Europa 671 1569 4.80e22 Galileo 1610
Ganymede 1070 2631 1.48e23 Galileo 1610
Callisto 1883 2400 1.08e23 Galileo 1610
Leda 11094 8 5.68e15 Kowal 1974
Himalia 11480 93 9.56e18 Perrine 1904
Lysithea 11720 18 7.77e16 Nicholson 1938
Elara 11737 38 7.77e17 Perrine 1905
Ananke 21200 15 3.82e16 Nicholson 1951
Carme 22600 20 9.56e16 Nicholson 1938
Pasiphae 23500 25 1.91e17 Melotte 1908
Sinope 23700 18 7.77e16 Nicholson 1914
Values for the smaller moons are approximate. Many more small moons are not listed
here.

Jupiter's Rings
 Distance Width Mass
Ring (km) (km) (kg)
---- -------- ----- ------
Halo 100000 22800 ?
Main 122800 6400 1e13
Gossamer 129200 214200 ?
(distance is from Jupiter's center to the ring's inner edge)