Jupiter

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Jupiter
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Bulk Properties

• Radius 11.2 Earth radii (71,000 km)
• Mass 318 Earth masses
• More than 2x the combined mass of the other
  planets
• Mean density 1.33 g/cm3
• Semi-major Axis 5.20 AU (4.95 5.46)
• Orbital Period 12 years
• Rotational Period 10 hours
• Differential Rotation
• Equatorial Bulge (Oblate Spheroid)

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Jupiters Atmosphere

• Composition
• 86 Hydrogen 14 Helium
• Trace amounts of methane, ammonia, water
• Color
• Composition is not enough to account for the
  reds, oranges, etc.
• Colors are the result of complex chemical
  processes occurring in the turbulent upper
  atmosphere

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Atmospheric Structure

• Jupiter has no solid surface, but for measuring
  altitude the top of the troposphere is taken to
  be at 0 km
• In the troposphere there are three layers of
  clouds (all at negative altitude)
• Ammonia (-40km)
• Ammonium hydrosulfide (-60km)
• Water (-80km)

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Atmospheric Bands

• Atmospheric bands
• Zones (bright stripes)
• Upward moving convective currents (high pressure)
• Belts (dark stripes)
• Downward moving convective currents (low
  pressure)
• Not seasonal (Jupiter has no seasons)
• General pattern remains steady
• Zonal flow
• Wind greatest near the equator
• Wind direction alternates between adjacent bands

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Weather on Jupiter

• Winds and weather likely driven by Jupiters
  internal heat
• The Great Red Spot
• First observed in mid 1600s
• A swirling (counterclockwise) hurricane-like
  structure
• About 2-3 times the diameter of Earth
• White Ovals
• Smaller storms with high cloud-tops
• Brown Ovals
• Holes in the clouds occurring only around
  latitude 20N

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Jupiters Internal Structure

• Both the temperature and density of the
  atmosphere increase with depth
• At a depth of a few thousand km, the gas makes a
  gradual transition to the liquid state
• At a depth of 20,000 km the hot liquid hydrogen
  is compressed to a molten metallic state
• Very likely there is a rocky core about 20,000 km
  in diameter with a very high density

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Jupiters Magnetosphere

• Field likely produced by the rotating liquid
  metallic hydrogen interior
• Magnetic field is 14x stronger than Earths
• 30 million km across (bigger than the Sun)
• Tail extends over 4 AU (past Saturn)

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Exploration of Jupiter

• Flybys
• Pioneer 10 (1973)
• Pioneer 11 (1974)
• Also visited Saturn
• Voyager 1 (1979)
• Also visited Saturn
• Voyager 2 (1979)
• Also visited Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
• Cassini (2000)
• Entered Saturn Orbit
• New Horizons (2007)
• Headed to Pluto

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Exploration of Jupiter

• Galileo mission
• Orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003
• Multiple flybys of all the Galilean moons
• Witnessed the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
• Sent an atmospheric probe into Jupiter
• Plunged into Jupiter to avoid a future collision
  and contamination of Europa

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