Jupiter

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.
Jupiter, being the biggest planet, gets its name from the king of the
ancient Roman gods.
Jupiter’s environment is probably not conducive to life as we

know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that
characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile
for organisms to adapt to.
While planet Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things to take

hold, the same is not true of some of its many moons. Europa is
one of the likeliest places to find life elsewhere in our solar
system. There is evidence of a vast ocean just beneath its icy
crust, where life could possibly be supported.
Jupiter’s environment is probably not conducive to life as we

know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that
characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile
for organisms to adapt to.
While planet Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things to take

hold, the same is not true of some of its many moons. Europa is
one of the likeliest places to find life elsewhere in our solar
system. There is evidence of a vast ocean just beneath its icy
crust, where life could possibly be supported.
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.
With four large moons and many smaller moons, Jupiter forms a
kind of miniature solar system. Jupiter has 80 moons. Fifty-seven
moons have been given official names by the International
Astronomical Union (IAU). Another 23 moons are awaiting names.
Jupiter's four largest moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto

– were first observed by the astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610
using an early version of the telescope. These four moons are
known today as the Galilean satellites, and they're some of the
most fascinating destinations in our solar system. Io is the most
volcanically active body in the solar system. Ganymede is the
largest moon in the solar system (even bigger than the planet
Mercury). Callisto’s very few small craters indicate a small
degree of current surface activity. A liquid-water ocean with the
ingredients for life may lie beneath the frozen crust of Europa,
making it a tempting place to explore.
Discovered in 1979 by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, Jupiter's

rings were a surprise, as they are composed of small, dark
particles and are difficult to see except when backlit by the Sun.
Data from the Galileo spacecraft indicate that Jupiter's ring
system may be formed by dust kicked up as interplanetary
meteoroids smash into the giant planet's small innermost
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. Jupiter took most of the mass
left over after the formation of the Sun, ending up with more than
twice the combined material of the other bodies in the solar
system. In fact, Jupiter has the same ingredients as a star, but it
did not grow massive enough to ignite.
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.
The 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)
Jupiter'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. More recently, three
smaller ovals merged to form the Little Red Spot, about half the
size of its larger cousin.
Findings from NASA’s Juno probe released in October 2021

provide a fuller picture of what’s going on below those clouds.
Data from Juno shows that Jupiter’s cyclones are warmer on top,
with lower atmospheric densities, while they are colder at the
bottom, with higher densities. Anticyclones, which rotate in the
opposite direction, are colder at the top but warmer at the
bottom.
The findings also indicate these storms are far taller than
expected, with some extending 60 miles (100 kilometers) below
the cloud tops and others, including the Great Red Spot,
extending over 200 miles (350 kilometers). This surprising
discovery demonstrates that the vortices cover regions beyond
those where water condenses and clouds form, below the depth
where sunlight warms the atmosphere.
The height and size of the Great Red Spot mean the
concentration of atmospheric mass within the storm potentially
could be detectable by instruments studying Jupiter’s gravity
field. Two close Juno flybys over Jupiter’s most famous spot
provided the opportunity to search for the storm’s gravity
signature and complement the other results on its depth.
With their gravity data, the Juno team was able to constrain the
extent of the Great Red Spot to a depth of about 300 miles (500
kilometers) below the cloud tops.
Belts and Zones In addition to cyclones and anticyclones,

Jupiter is known for its distinctive belts and zones – white and
reddish bands of clouds that wrap around the planet. Strong east-
west winds moving in opposite directions separate the bands.
Juno previously discovered that these winds, or jet streams,
reach depths of about 2,000 miles (roughly 3,200 kilometers).
Researchers are still trying to solve the mystery of how the jet
streams form. Data collected by Juno during multiple passes
reveal one possible clue: that the atmosphere’s ammonia gas
travels up and down in remarkable alignment with the observed
jet streams.
Juno’s data also shows that the belts and zones undergo a
transition around 40 miles (65 kilometers) beneath Jupiter’s
water clouds. At shallow depths, Jupiter’s belts are brighter in
microwave light than the neighboring zones. But at deeper levels,
below the water clouds, the opposite is true – which reveals a
similarity to our oceans.
Polar Cyclones Juno previously discovered polygonal
arrangements of giant cyclonic storms at both of Jupiter’s poles
– eight arranged in an octagonal pattern in the north and five
arranged in a pentagonal pattern in the south. Over time, mission
scientists determined these atmospheric phenomena are
extremely resilient, remaining in the same location.
Juno data also indicates that, like hurricanes on Earth, these

cyclones want to move poleward, but cyclones located at the
center of each pole push them back. This balance explains where
the cyclones reside and the different numbers at each pole.
The Jovian magnetosphere is the region of space influenced by

Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. It balloons 600,000 to 2 million
miles (1 to 3 million kilometers) toward the Sun (seven to 21
times the diameter of Jupiter itself) and tapers into a tadpole-
shaped tail extending more than 600 million miles (1 billion
kilometers) behind Jupiter, as far as Saturn's orbit. Jupiter's
enormous magnetic field is 16 to 54 times as powerful as that of
the Earth. It rotates with the planet and sweeps up particles that
have an electric charge. Near the planet, the magnetic field traps
swarms of charged particles and accelerates them to very high
energies, creating intense radiation that bombards the innermost
moons and can damage spacecraft.
Jupiter's magnetic field also causes some of the solar system's

most spectacular aurorae at the planet's poles.

Jupiter

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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

Jupiter is surrounded by dozens of moons. Jupiter also has

Jupiter’s environment is probably not conducive to life as we

While planet Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things to take

Jupiter’s environment is probably not conducive to life as we

While planet Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things to take

Jupiter's four largest moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto

Discovered in 1979 by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, Jupiter's

Jupiter's appearance is a tapestry of colorful cloud bands and

With no solid surface to slow them down, Jupiter's spots can

Findings from NASA’s Juno probe released in October 2021

Belts and Zones In addition to cyclones and anticyclones,

Juno data also indicates that, like hurricanes on Earth, these

The Jovian magnetosphere is the region of space influenced by

Jupiter's magnetic field also causes some of the solar system's

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