The+Jove+-+Jupiter

//**"Discovering the Largest Planet in our Solar System"**// **Wikipage Created by Aanchal Bhattacharya** __**Jupiter's Age: **__ Jupiter is the same age as the sun - around 4.5 billion years old.

__**Orbital Period (Earth Days): **__ It takes Jupiter 4332.71 (Earth days) to orbit the sun. If one converts this period into years, it would take around 11 (Earth years) for Jupiter to complete one orbit around the sun. //**Rotation:**// Jupiter has the fastest rotation in comparison to all of the other planets in the solar system. The planet rotates on its axis in less than 10 hours - to be exact it takes Jupiter to complete one full rotation on its axis 9.9 hours (Earth time). Jupiter's rotation period actually differs due to a prominent bulge located at the equator. The equator of the planet bulges out because the planet is rotating at such an immense rate (in spite of being the largest planet in the solar system). //**Additional Info in relation to the Rotation:**// Because Jupiter is a ball of gas and is not a planet with solid rocks/materials located at the outer surface, the planet experiences a variation in the rotation period. On an average the rotation period is 9.9 hours but actually the time for the rotation period differs depending on where one stands on the planet. At the poles of the planet = rotation takes 5 min longer, than at the equator of the planet. Since Jupiter is a gas giant, the upper atmosphere of the planet has a different rotation than at it's equator.

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Check out this time lapse video of when Voyageur 1 arrived at Jupiter - February 1979.

__**Date of Discovery: **__ No one knows for sure who discovered Jupiter and its date of discovery. However it's predicted and is highly possible that the planet was discovered by ancient Greek astronomers; due to the origin of the planet's name - "JOVE". Jupiter is one of the planets that is visible to the human eye, furthermore ancient Greek astronomers had discovered this planet and named it after their "king of gods" - Zeus (another name being "Jove"). Since the planet had recieved such a name hundreds of years ago, it's highly possible that the planet was discovered by ancient Greek astronomers, even though we don't know for sure when it was discovered and who that person is that discovered Jupiter.

__** History (scientific): **__ ** Mean Distance from the Sun to Jupiter: ** 778,000,000 kilometers (5th closest planet to the sun). **Mass:** 1,898,130,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg --- 1321.337 x Earth = in comparison to Earth's mass. **Surface Gravity:** 24.79 m/s (squared) = if you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 253 pounds on Jupiter (standard comparison by NASA). **Escape Velocity** (the velocity needed to escape the gravity of the planet): 216,720 km/h **Perihelion** (when the planet is closest to the sun): 740,679,835 km **Apehelion** (when the planet is farthest away from the sun): 816, 001,807 km **Average Orbit Velocity** (how fast the planet is traveling at, when orbiting around the sun): 47,002 km/h **Additional Information:** **Historical Background:** January 7, 1610 = Galileo Galilei thought he saw four small stars near Jupiter. What he didn't know was that he had discovered Jupiter's gour largest moons, lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Today these 4 moons are known as Galilean satellites.
 * Mean Radius **: 69,911 km
 * Mean Circumference of the planet ** (in relation the poles at the end): 439,263.8 km
 * The planet is able to attract methane, and other elements causing it to be bigger.
 * When Jupite was at its early stage of formation it was made up of rock and ice, one last proto planet slams into the surface causing an immense collision - allowing Jupiter to form as how it currently is to us. The added mass of the collision sent Jupiter over to the edge – making it a gravity bully.
 * Planet's Gravity is able to draw in materials, making it large and vast. The gravity sweeps up all the gas in its orbital passage – it took over 100,000 years in order to form into a gas giant.
 * Contains 92% of non-solar mass.
 * Picks up most of the dust and gas from the sun. Causing the planet to swell and expand.
 * Gravitational influence is the greatest in the solar system.
 * Can flung out materials – planet ejects planetesimal. The planet than moves in a little bit within the solar system.
 * 99% of the bodies are thrown outward in the system – some of these bodies that are thrown outward in the system are primarily due to Jupiter's gravitational effect.

Galileo Galilei __**Moons:**__ Jupiter in total has ** 50 identified moons ** ! However there are some unidentified solid based objects near the planet which are believed to be moons. If one includes these unidentified solid based objects then Jupiter has over 60 moons. The four largest are lo, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede.


 * Callisto(left)** **Europa (centre)** **Ganymede (right) lo (bottom)**



__**Mythology:**__ Jupiter has been discovered by ancient astronomers, however the Romans had the greatest influence towards naming the planet. Even though it's highly predicted and possibly true that ancient greek astronomers were the first to discover the planet, ancient roman astronomers have had the greatest influence towards naming the planet. Since Jupiter can be seen within the human eye and can be visible during the early hours of the night sky, the immense size of Jupiter allowed the Romans to name the planet after their "king of gods" and the "god of sky and thunder". The Romans named this planet "Jupiter".

Jupiter is said to be the Roman version of the greek god Zeus (father of Hercules and many other Greek heroes, gods and goddesses) who is also the king of gods and the god of sky and thunder. Furthermore Jupiter is also known as Jove in English since the direct translation from Jupiter within the language becomes "Jove".

In the past, we didn't know a lot about the planet due to the lacking of scientific technology and instrumentation, but it was the planet's immense size and distinct features which allowed individuals from ancient civilizations to name this planet as the king of the sky, the ultimate god who was at the head of all the other gods. In this case, Jupiter being the largest and most immense planet in comparison to all the other ones.

__** Size: **__ Measured in 4 ways, volume/mass/diameter and surface area.
 * MASS:** 1,898,130,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg --- 1321.337 x Earth = in comparison to Earth's mass.
 * DIAMETER:** 143000 km (equatorial diameter)
 * VOLUME:**1.43 x 1015km3
 * SURFACE AREA:** 6.22 x 1010km2

Jupiter's mass is 318 times larger than the Earth's and 2.5 that's of the entire solar system combined! Diameter is 11.2 times larger than the Earth's, volume is 1321 times larger than the Earth's and the surface area is 122 times that of Earth's. Even though Jupiter may be the most massive planet in our solar system, it would still need a lot of hydrogen and helium to fuse in order to become a star. Jupiter would need to fuse 50-80 times more hydrogen and helium than its mass.

__** Composition: **__ Similar to the sun's. The planet's composition is mostly of hydrogen and helium. Deep within the layers of the planet, the the hydrogen becomes metallic due to the compression from the atmosphere. When the hydrogen becomes metallic, it formulates into being electrically conducting. Jupiter's powerful and immense magnetic field is generated from this metallic layed in the planet's composition and due to the velocity of Jupiter's rotation. __THE CORE__ = It's predicted that this immense pressure supports a giant rock which is the same size as that of Earth's. However we do not know what is at the core of this planet.

**//Above - A diagram of what we believe is the composition of Jupiter.//** __**Atmospheric Conditions: **__ As detected from our space probes, Jupiter's atmosphere is comprised of ammonia, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium. The mixing of these chemical compounds have created the beautiful gaseous clouds of the planet. However we don't exactly know for 100% what the atmospheric conditions are. The chemical compunds above have only been detected, what we do know is that the planet is made up of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter's clouds, "seen from Earth's telescopes", are made up of ammonia.

__** Resources: **__ Since Jupiter is a gaseous planet, and is comprised of hydrogen and helium, these are the only resources that can be of assistance. Astronomers are unaware as to what exactly makes up the planet, however we do know that the planet's hydrogen to helium ratio is almost as close as to our sun's. Thus it's believed that the planet was formed around the same time as the sun, since Jupiter is one of the only planets in which the composition is highly similar to that of sun's. However we are not sure of anyother possible resources that may be present on the planet's surface.

__** Significant and noteworthy Features: **__ - Gaseous Planet - Not completely solid due to gaseous atmosphere - Immense planet - diameter is 11.2 times larger than Earth. - Very low density comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium. - Predicted that located at the centre of the planet is a small rocky core which is compared as the same size range as terrestrial planets. - 4 significant moons - the largest out of all the moons orbiting around Jupiter. You can learn more about the Giant Red Spot by watching the video below - courtesy of YouTube and the Discovery Channel.
 * Callisto,** **Europa,** **Ganymede, lo**
 * __- The Great Red Spot __**

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The great red spot is a long existing storm system on Jupiter. It's cloud surface is what makes the storm visible and immense. It's 20,000 km long and 12,000 km wide. This great red spot is large enough to engulf Earth and Mars. Generally it moves in longtitude due to the rotation of the cloud systems on Jupiter, however the storm is generally situated at latitude 22 degrees South. This spot was first discovered in 1831 by astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe and it was known as "the Hollow" later renamed as the Great Red Spot.



Heinrich Schwabe.

- Jupiter's Rings: rings that are darker and smaller than Saturn's rings. No one knows exactly what has formulated these rings and to the composition of it. It's believed that the rings are a composition of debris that has been attracted in Jupiter's orbit and now orbits around the planet.

Below is a diagram of Jupiter's rings which are present around the planet but is not as visible as Saturn's. Posted below is an excellent video representation, highlighting all the significant features and details of the planet. Examine the brilliant footages and animation generated graphics; created with the courtesy of NASA. media type="youtube" key="s56pxa9lpvo" height="315" width="560" align="center"

__** What don't we know?: **__ - Astronomers are not sure as to what caused the Great Red Spot and to why it has existed for centuries. Additionally we don't know as to why the Spot only moved east to west and not north to south. - We do not know what created the rings of Jupiter and the exact composition of the rings. It's predicted that the rings are a creation of collected debris from the beginning of our solar system which has been attracted into the orbit of Jupiter. - The establishment and detailed observations of all 60 moons. There are 10 unidentified moons orbiting Jupiter. We also don't know the characteristics and composition of each of these moons. - "JUPTER'S HEART" : for many years now, we have believed that the core of the planet's was a rocky cory (the size of Earth) located at the heart of the planet. However due to new discoveries and simulations, we have predicted that Jupiter's rocky core is now "melting" and is liquefying with the other gases that make up the planet. - We do not know all the gases that make up Jupiter and the planet's atmospheric condition. We know that the planet is gaseous and is comprised with hydrogen and helium; yet we don't know all the gases that are formulated. - Detailed analysis of storm patterns and weather observations.

There's still a lot to learn from our distant friend which is "the king of all planets".

__** Future plans or expenditures: **__ - A new pursued mission was proposed by NASA in collaboration with the ESA entitled Europa Jupiter System Mission, allows the agencies to study Jupiter in greater detail and its 4 largest moons. A space probe has already been launched in 2009 to learn more about the planet and its system. Information is still yet to be learned from this mission as the probe is is receiving and sending information to NASA headquarters at Houston, Texas. - On August 5, 2011: NASA launched JUNO space probe to study more about the Planet's composition and its atmospheric conditions. The probe is currently making its way to Jupiter; on March 14 2012, the probe has passed Mars orbit and is currently moving on the "Jupiter pathfinder" at 69,000 km per hour. Currently the probe is in good health and is sending data back to Houston.

Posted below is an excellent diagram produced by NASA. This is the image portrayed since March 14, 2012. In the diagram you can also see the path JUNO is travelling in.



__ Juno Probe to Explore Juno's Composition - NASA __ media type="youtube" key="_p3F9LpDxYw" height="315" width="560" align="center"

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**External Resources from NASA international Website** [] **Videos** All acquired from YouTube. = = 