Jupiter

1
Jupiter Planetary Verbal Notes
2
Facts about Jupiter

• Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun and the
  largest planet in the solar system!
• Visible by the naked eye for 6 months out of the
  year.
• Jupiters atmosphere is a literal seething
  cauldron of activity!

3
The Belts of Jupiter

• Jupiter is covered in orange, red, brown and
  white belts that run parallel to its equator or
  horizontal.
• What are these belts thought to be caused by?
  Different underlying currents within the planets
  deep atmosphere
• They vary in location, color, and form.

4
The Belts of Jupiter

• When viewed over several days they move and
  change which demonstrates tremendous energy in
  the atmosphere.
• The equatorial belt is light in color and 12,000
  15,000 miles in width.
• The zones of Jupiter are light colored belts.

5
Fastest Planet!

• The rotational period of Jupiter differs all over
  the planet, it is not equal or constant.
• Why?
• Because its a ball of gas and not a solid like
  the terrestrial planets and very active.
• Shortest? At the equator 9 hours, 50 minutes,
  and 30 seconds.
• Longest? At the areas north and south of the
  equator.

6
Jupiters Rotational period

• Not equal?!?
• Average rotation period just under 10 hours on
  average
• Average Rotation Speed 30,000 mph
• Comparison Earths Average Rotation Speed
  1000 mph!!!

7
Jupiters Rotational period

• High speed rotation creates an equatorial bulge
  and flattens out the planet.

Click here to view a Video of Jupiter Rotating
8
Observations of Jupiter

• How do they make observations?
• By semi-permanent markings on the belts zones
  within Jupiters atmosphere.

9
Great Red Spot!

• (GRS) Great Red Spot a HUGE storm that is also
  used as a very reliable marker to observe the
  planets rotation.

10
Great Red Spot!

• Length 24,000 miles
• Width 7,800 miles
• The GRS is approximately three times the diameter
  of the Earth!
• Constantly spinning like a HUGE Earth-like
  hurricane.

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Facts about Jupiter

• Distance from the Sun 467,000,000 miles or 5.2
  AU
• Planetary Symbol
• Rotational Period approx. 10 hours
• Revolutional Period 11.86 Earth years
• Axis Tilt 3? 5
• Orbital Plane Tilt 1? 5

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Facts about Jupiter

• Namesake King of the Roman Gods

• As heavyweight champion of the worlds, Jupiter
  accounts for more than two-thirds of all material
  in the Solar System outside the Sun.
• Gravity two and a half times stronger than our
  own creates intense pressures in the swirling
  gases of its atmosphere.

13
Facts about Jupiter

• Jupiter is very oblate!
• It is 6,000 miles longer at the equator than the
  poles given it a flattened or oblate appearance.
• Diameter 85,680 miles! It would take 11 Earths
  lined up side by side to equal Jupiters diameter
  and 1,330 Earths to fill its volume!
• Mass wise 318 Earths would be needed to equal the
  mass of Jupiter!

14
Secrets of the Universe!

• Astronomers believe that Jupiter may hold the key
  to understanding the origin of our solar system.
• Why?
• Because astronomers believe it still holds some
  primordial material inside!

15
Composition of Jupiter

• Most of Jupiters volume is made of hydrogen in
  both a liquid metallic form and a gaseous state.
• Hydrogen normally exists in a gaseous form,
  however in Jupiters atmosphere, the pressure is
  so great and the atmosphere is so dense near the
  surface that the hydrogen turns into a liquid
  metallic form.

16
Jupiters Interior

• The liquid metallic hydrogen core takes up most
  of the interior of Jupiter and they believe that
  a small rocky core that lies at the center of the
  outer core.

Outside the core lies 82 hydrogen (liquid
gaseous) 17 helium 1 ammonia (NH3), water
(H2O), methane (CH4)
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Facts about Jupiter

• Jupiter is surrounded by two thick cloud decks.
• Lower Cloud Deck water droplets and ice
  crystals
• Upper Cloud Deck crystals of frozen ammonia at
  -300?F
• The deck contains the colorful belts zones.

18
Great Atmospheric Pressure Temperature

• Estimated at 10,000,000 pounds per square inch
  with temperatures as high as 50,000?F.

19
Great Atmospheric Pressure Temperature

• As gravity condensed Jupiter, the planet began to
  heat up and give off its own energy.
• Today it radiates 1.7 times more energy than it
  receives from the Sun!
• Why?
• Theory If Jupiter had been 50-85xs its mass it
  would have become a medium-sized star like our
  Sun rather than a planet and the Earth would have
  never existed!

20
Satellites of Jupiter

• Jupiter has a total of 16 moons.
• The four largest moons were discovered by Galileo
  in 1610 and are known as the Galilean Satellites
• They are even visible with the use of binoculars
  or a weak amateur telescope.

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Satellites of Jupiter

• Besides the Galilean Satellites, Jupiters other
  12 moons are irregular in shape and resemble
  asteroids that range in size from 4 to 70 miles
  in diameter.
• These other moons are thought to be captured from
  the asteroid belt.

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Galilean Satellites

• 1st Galilean Moon Io
• The most volcanically active body in the Solar
  System.
• This is caused by the gravity of Jupiter pulling
  on Io, which creates great friction that melts
  the moons interior.
• Ios sulfurous volcanoes spew gas into space that
  forms a gaseous sulfur band around Jupiter.
• There is also a tube of electrical energy that
  connects Io to Jupiter and is more powerful than
  all the electricity on Earth!

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Galilean Satellites

• 2nd Galilean Moon Europa
• Covered with a 60 mile-thick layer of ice.
• Theory gravitational friction and heating
  create a huge liquid ocean of water under its icy
  crust.

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Galilean Satellites

• 3rd Galilean Moon Ganymede
• The largest of the Galilean Moons it is larger
  than Mercury!
• Contains two types of crust.
• One type is very old and heavily cratered.
• The other is a grooved surface and the craters
  have been covered or changed they arent sure
  why, perhaps the movement of the crust.

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Galilean Satellites

• 4th Galilean Moon Callisto
• The most cratered of the four Galilean
  Satellites.
• Its icy surface is unchanged since planetesimals
  bombarded it over3.5 billion years ago.

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Galilean Satellites
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NASA Missions

• 1973-1974 Pioneer 10 11
• Flyby with pictures of cloud tops, moons, polar
  regions.
• 1979 Voyager 1 2
• Faint rings, 3 moons, Ios volcanism, and the
  rings of Jupiter.
• 1989 Launched Galileo which arrived in 1995.
• Goal 11 orbits in 22 months the dropping of a
  probe into the atmosphere where 6 instruments
  will collect data until it is destroyed by the
  extreme pressures temperatures (pictured here)