Our Godfather, Jupiter
While our universe is ever expanding, to one day collapse back in on itself, there is one member of our Solar System that shines within our night sky. Jupiter, claiming its name from the king of ancient Roman Gods, is the largest planet in our solar system, being two and a half times bigger than all the planets combined! It lies just beyond the rocky asteroid belt, and just before Saturn, orbiting the sun every 12 years, while days are 9.9 hours. It lies just beyond the asteroid belt, sitting 5.2 astronomical units from the Sun, and it takes 43 minutes for sunlight to reach Jupiter.
What about its atmosphere? NASA sources have shown that Jupiter likely has three layers to its atmosphere. The outer atmosphere contains Ammonia ice; the middle atmosphere is most likely Ammonium Hydrosulfide crystals with the inner atmosphere most likely made up of water ice and vapor. The vibrant bands that tangle around Jupiter may be from plumes of Sulfur and Phosphorus-containing gases rising for the enormous planet’s warmer interior. As for its structure? Jupiter is similar to the sun. Mostly Hydrogen and Helium. Deep within the atmosphere, the pressure and temperature increase, which compresses the hydrogen gas into a liquid. Scientists believe that roughly halfway to the planet’s center, pressure is so great that electrons are squeezed off hydrogens atoms and can make liquid electrically conduct, just like metals. Despite this, scientists still theorized what lies in Jupiter’s core. It remains a mystery to this day. The current belief is that there’s a mixture of Hydrogen and Helium gases, swirling around a small, solid core of heavier elements, such as ice, rock and metal formed from the debris from our forming solar system.
Alongside Jupiter’s atmosphere, did you know that the whole planet is covered in storms? Due to Jupiter being a gas giant, there is no solid surface to slow these winds down, so storms prevail across the surface. The most famous one is Jupiter’s Red Spot. Currently, it has been ongoing for over 300 years, and it extends over 200 miles (350 kilometers), while being 300 miles (500 kilometers) below the cloud tops. This storm is greater than Earth in size.
Officially, we know Jupiter has 95 moons, currently orbiting it. The four largest moons are the famous Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. All four were discovered in 1610, by Galileo Galilei, who used the earlier version of the telescope. These moons are now known as the Galilean satellites. Io is the most volcanically active world we know of, with hundreds of currently active volcanoes. This remarkable activity is due to the gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter’s gravity and the smaller pulls from Io’s neighboring moons, Europa and Ganymede. Europa, on the other hand, leaves scientists hopeful of signs of life beyond ours. Underneath its icy shell, it holds twice as much saltwater as Earth’s ocean. Ganymede is the largest moon in our Solar System. It’s ever bigger than planet Mercury and dwarf planet Pluto! It’s the only current known moon with its own magnetic field, commonly found on planets like our own. Finally, Callisto: The Dead Moon. Callisto currently doesn’t show signs of life; however, the Galileo spacecraft revealed Callisto may have a salty ocean, hidden beneath its surface.
What about Jupiter billions of years ago? 4.6 billion years ago, Jupiter formed, alongside out forming solar system, yet Jupiter stole most of the mass that was left over by the sun’s formation.
Did you know that Jupiter has the same ingredients as a star, like our sun? However, it is labelled as a planet, and not a star, because it didn’t grow massive enough to ignite.
Izzy Bennett
Sources:
https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-facts/
https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/io/facts/
https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-moons/europa/
