OUR UNIVERSE

OUR SOLAR-SYSTEM

PLANET-JUPITER

JUPITER
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is two and a half times as massive as all of the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant, along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian planets.

ITS STRUCTURE
Jupiter is one of the four gas giants ; that is, it is not primarily composed of solid matter. It is the largest planet in the Solar System, having a diameter of 142,984 km at its equator. Jupiter's density, 1.326 g/cm, is the second highest of the gas giant planets, but lower than any of the four terrestrial planets.

ITS COMPOSITION
Jupiter's upper atmosphere is composed of about 88-92% hydrogen and 8-12% helium by percent volume or fraction of gas molecules (see table to the right). Thus the atmosphere is approximately 75% hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, with the remaining one percent of the mass consisting of other elements. The interior contains denser materials such that the distribution is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium and five percent other elements by mass.

ITS MASS
Jupiter is 2.5 times more massive than all the other planets in our Solar System combined this is so massive that its barycenter with the Sun actually lies above the Sun's surface Although this planet dwarfs the Earth (with a diameter 11 times as great) it is considerably less dense. Jupiter's volume is equal to 1,317 Earths, yet is only 318 times as massive. A Jupiter mass (MJ) is used to describe masses of other gas giant planets, particularly extra solar planets.

INTERNAL STUCTURE
Jupiter is thought to consist of a dense core with a mixture of elements, a surrounding layer of liquid metallic hydrogen with some helium, and an outer layer predominantly of molecular hydrogen. The core region is surrounded by dense metallic hydrogen, which extends outward to about 78 percent of the radius of the planet. Rain-like droplets of helium and neon precipitate downward through this layer, depleting the abundance of these elements in the upper atmosphere. It is believed the temperature inside Jupiter is 10,000 K. The temperature at the core boundary is estimated to be 36,000 K .

PLANETARY RINGS
Jupiter has a faint planetary ring system composed of three main segments: an inner torus of particles known as the halo, a relatively bright main ring, and an outer "gossamer" ring. These rings appear to be made of dust, rather than ice as is the case for Saturn's rings. The main ring is probably made of material ejected from the satellites Adrastea and Metis In a similar way, the moons Thebe and Amalthea probably produce the two distinct components of the gossamer ring.

ITS ORBIT
The average distance between Jupiter and the Sun is 778 million km (about 5.2 times the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, or 5.2 AU) and it completes an orbit every 11.86 years. This is two-fifths the orbital period of Saturn, forming a 5:2 orbital resonance between the two largest planets in the Solar System.

JUPITER

ITS ROTATION
Jupiter's rotation is the fastest of all the Solar System's planets, completing a rotation on its axis in slightly less than ten hours. The planet is shaped as an oblate spheroid, meaning that the diameter across its equator is longer than the diameter measured between its poles. On Jupiter, the equatorial diameter is 9275 km longer than the diameter measured through the poles.

ITS ATMOSPHERE
A substantial area of Jupiter consists of an atmosphere containing primarily helium and hydrogen with traces of ammonia, methane, and other compounds. The pressure and temperature increase remarkedly towards the center of the planet, whilst the atmosphere grows denser and its properties change. At a depth of around 50,000 km, the pressure is so great that the hydrogen solidifies into a substance that acts like a metal

ITS MOONS
Jupiter has 63 named natural satellites. Of these, 47 are less than 10 kilometers in diameter and have only been discovered since 1975. The four largest moons, known as the "Galilean moons", are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

GALILLEAN MOONS
The orbits of Io, Europa, and Ganymede, some of the largest satellites in the Solar System, form a pattern known as a Laplace resonance; for every four orbits that Io makes around Jupiter, Europa makes exactly two orbits and Ganymede makes exactly one. The moons' physical and orbital characteristics vary widely. The four Galileans are all over 3000 km in diameter; the largest Galilean, Ganymede, is the largest object in the Solar System outside the Sun and the eight planets. All other Jovian moons are less than 250 km in diameter, with most barely exceeding five km. Even Europa, the smallest of the Galileans, is five thousand times more massive than all the non-Galilean moons combine .

GALILLEAN MOON-LO
LO : Jupiter's moon Io is one of the most exotic places in the solar system. It is the most volcanic body known, with lava flows, lava lakes, and giant calderas covering its sulfurous landscape. It has billowing volcanic geysers spewing sulfurous plumes to over 500 kilometers high. Its mountains are much taller than those on Earth, reaching heights of 16 kilometers (52,000 feet).

GALILLEAN MOON-EUROPA
EUROPA: Europas surface is among the brightest in the solar system, a consequence of sunlight reflecting off a relatively young icy crust. Its face is also among the smoothest, lacking the heavily cratered appearance characteristic of Callisto and Ganymede. Lines and cracks wrap the exterior as if a child had scribbled around it. Europa may be internally active, and its crust may have, or had in the past, liquid water which can harbor life.

GALILLEAN MOON-GANYMEDE
GANYMEDE: Ganymede is the largest moon of Jupiter and is the largest in our solar system with a diameter of 5,262 km (3,280 miles). If Ganymede orbited the Sun instead of Jupiter it could be classified as a planet. Like Callisto, Ganymede is most likely composed of a rocky core with a water/ice mantle and a crust of rock and ice. Its low density of 1.94 gm/cm3, indicates that the core takes up about 50% of the satellite's diameter. Ganymede's mantle is most likely composed of ice and silicates, and its crust is probably a thick layer of water ice.

GALILLEAN MOON-CALLISTO
CALLISTO: Callisto is the second largest moon of Jupiter, the third largest in the solar system, and is about the same size as Mercury. It orbits just beyond Jupiter's main radiation belt. Callisto is the most heavily cratered satellite in the solar system. Its crust is very ancient and dates back 4 billion years, just shortly after the solar system was formed

JUPITERS EXPLORATION
Pioneer 10 - USA Jupiter Flyby - 259 kg - (March 3, 1972) Pioneer 11 - USA Jupiter/Saturn Flyby - 259 kg (April 6, 1973 - November 1995) Voyager 1 - USA Jupiter/Saturn Flyby - 800 kg (September 5, 1977) Voyager 2 - USA Jupiter/Saturn/Uranus/Neptune Flyby - 800 kg - (August 20, 1977) Ulysses - USA & Europe Sun Flyby - 370 kg (October 6, 1990) Galileo - USA & Europe Jupiter Orbiter/Atmospheric Probe - 2,222 kg - (October 18, 1989) Hubble Space Telescope - USA & Europe Telescope - (April 25, 1990) New Horizons - USA Pluto/ Charon and Kuipter Belt Flyby - 19 Jan 2006