Facts About Planet Jupiter - The Largest Planet
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Jupiter |
Facts About Jupiter
A Video On Jupiter Facts
Planet Profile
Name | Jupiter |
---|---|
Known Satellite | 79 |
Distance from Sun (avg) | 1.434 billion km |
Equatorial Radius | 71,492 km |
Polar Radius | 66,854 km |
Volume | 1.43 × 1015 km3 |
Mass | 1.898 × 1027 kg |
Surface area | 61.42 billion km2 |
Gravity | 24.79 m/s2 |
Surface Temperature ( at 1 bar) |
−108 °C or -162.4 °F |
Length of day | 0 day 9 hrs 56 min (earth time) |
Length of year | 12 Earth years |
Astronomical symbol | ♃ |
Quick Facts About Jupiter
- Jupiter is the first planet to form in our solar system.
- Beautiful clouds and whirling storms of Jupiter are only 50 km or 31 miles deep.
- So far, only nine spacecraft visited Jupiter. Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft that visited Jupiter.
- Jupiter has an axial tilt of only 3°, so it does not experience seasons like Earth.
- Because of its composition (mainly hydrogen and helium), Jupiter is also called as Failed Star.
- If it was 80 times bigger, then it would have turn into a star.
- Generally, wind speed on Jupiter is 360 km/h (223 mph), but it can reach up to 620 km/h (385 mph).
- Jupiter also has the strongest gravitational pull than other planets, which is 2.5 times the Earth's gravity.
- During the solar system's earliest days, Jupiter acts as a vacuum cleaner. Its massive gravity attracts and destroy many space debris, helped other planets to grow.
- Today, Jupiter is the protector of our Earth as it redirects and prevents space debris from entering the inner solar system and hitting the Earth.
Detailed Facts About Jupiter
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Nobody has claimed Jupiter's discovery
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Jupiter - king of the ancient Roman gods |
What is known is that the Romans were the first to give Jupiter a formal name fittingly after their Supreme God and deity of thunder lightning and the sky. If a name must be associated with its discovery, Galileo Galilei was the first person to view the planet via telescope.
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Jupiter is so big that 1321 Earths could fit inside it
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Jupiter compared to the Earth © Wikimedia |
It's believed that Jupiter's massive size is responsible for redirecting the paths of smaller objects within the solar system. Either sending comets or asteroids into or away from the inner solar system.
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Jupiter is five times farther from the Sun than our Earth
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If you look at a map of the solar system, you'll find that Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are relatively close to one another. They are within 150 million miles or 249 million kilometres from the Sun. Then there's Jupiter which just had to be completely different. It separates itself from the first planetary quartet by approximately 300 million miles or 482 million kilometres.
At its closest proximity (perihelion), Jupiter is around 460 million miles or 741 million kilometres from the Sun and at its farthest point (aphelion), it is about 508 million miles 817 million km away, making it nearly 5 times farther away from the Sun than Earth. Its extended distance means Jupiter takes just about 12 Earth years to complete its orbit around the Sun.
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Jupiter has the shortest day than other planets
For accurate readings, scientists had to base this figure of Jupiter's magnetic field using radio emissions. It's still not entirely accurate. Since Jupiter is a gaseous planet, different parts of Jupiter such as the equator rotate at different speeds and have slightly deviated day cycles. Its poles experience 5 minutes longer rotation than its equator. This fastest spinning causes bulge at its equator.
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Jupiter is home to damaging storms
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8 cyclones encircle a massive cyclone at the north pole of Jupiter |
The planets own heat source found deep within the mixture of gases towards Jupiter's core. That is primarily responsible for the moist convection that helps drives Jupiter's damaging weather patterns. The process is similar to Earth form storms though.
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Jupiter's 300 years old iconic Red Spot is shrinking over time
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Great red spot compared to earth |
But this massive storm is shrinking! It was substantially bigger and more elongated just a few decades ago. In the 1800s, it was estimated to be over 25,500 miles or 41,038 km across. But in 2017, Nasa's Juno spacecraft recorded its size at 10,000 miles or 16,093km. It changes colour over time, too, having gone from deep red to salmon and then back again. No one knows why its size, shape, and colour change.
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Galileo also discovered Jupiter's four largest moons
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Four Galilean moons © Flicker |
The discovery, though important to those intrigued by Jupiter. Also marked a turning point in how the solar system was viewed. Whereas everything was once believed to have revolved around the earth in the Ptolemaic world system. The Galilean moons showed that celestial bodies could orbit other objects in space.
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Jupiter's immense gravity helps it to hold 79 moons
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Orbits of Jupiter's moons © Wikimedia |
The moons range from a considerably small size of 1.2 miles or 2 kilometres to a much grander at 3273 miles or 5,268 kilometres in diameter. 51 of Jupiter satellites are considered irregular meaning. They were captured within the planet's orbit, rather than having been formed in orbit itself.
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Jupiter's moon Ganymede is the largest in the solar system
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Ganymede |
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Jupiter has the largest magnetic field in the solar system
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Jupiter's magnetosphere © Wikimedia |
Jupiter's magnetic field is different from other planets. Researchers are still unsure how its magnetic field generated. Since it is mainly made up of hydrogen and helium, which is not very conductive in nature. So, It is theorised that the enormous pressure of the planet resulted in the formation of liquid metallic hydrogen, which much conducts like metal.
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Jupiter has no surface but has the largest ocean
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Liquid Metallic hydrogen ocean of Jupiter © Wikimedia |
We considered hydrogen as a gas. But if it is very cold, then it turns into a liquid. But due to the immense pressure of Jupiter's atmosphere, hydrogen undergoes this strange transformation. It is believed that temperature at this region is 9,700 °C or 17,500 °F. Hotter than the surface of Sun!
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Beside Saturn's ring, Jupiter also has a ring system
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Rings of Jupiter |
Jupiter is one of the four gaseous giants that have rings. But it is so faint that it can't be seen, even with a telescope. In fact, only the largest telescope in the earth can spot them. That is because it is mostly made of dust and they do not reflect much sunlight as the Saturn's icy ring. The rings were unknown to us before the Voyager 1 discovered Jupiter's rings in 1975.
They are four sets of rings: two wide outer rings "Gossamer Rings", the brightest ring "Main ring" and the innermost ring "Halo ring". Main ring and Halo ring contains remnants of the moon Thebe and Amalthea. As they regularly bombard with impacts craters and the dust spread out to form a ring. When observed in infrared light, Jupiter's rings light up in reddish colour except for Halo ring, which has a blue colour.
How about these Jupiter Facts?
Those are the interesting facts about Jupiter. How about you? Want to know more information and facts about Jupiter? Check out these links:- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Jupiter
- https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/ planets/jupiter/overview/
- https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/ planets/jupiter/in-depth/