Jupiter and its Moons

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Jupiter and its Moons
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Physical Properties of Earth and Jupiter
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The length of a Jovian day is about 10 hours.
Zone
Belt
Belts sinking, low pressure regions. Zones
rising, high pressure regions.
Why are belts dark and zones white?
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Motion of Zones and Belts
Wind speeds hundreds of km per hour.
Why such high wind speeds?
Why is the circulation in parallel bands?
Why does Jupiter emit
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Jupiters Great Red Spot a cyclonic storm that
has continued for more than 300 years.
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Jupiters Atmosphere
Thickness of atmosphere is about 1000 km.
No sharp boundary between gaseous atmosphere and
liquid interior. Atmosphere gradually thickens
and becomes liquid with transformation complete
at a depth of about 1000 km.
Cloud colors due to photochemical reactions
involving sulfur and phosphorus.
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Jovian Thunderstorms
Lightning flashes are as much as a thousand times
as powerful as those on Earth.
What causes thunderstorms?
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Jupiters Aurora Oval and Base of Io Flux Tube
What causes aurorae?
How are Jupiters aurorae different from Earths?
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Jupiters Magnetic Field
Jovian magnetic field is more than 10 times
stronger than Earths magnetic field. Why?
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Structure of Jupiters Magnetosphere
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Internal Structure of Jupiter
Molecular Hydrogen
Liquid Metallic Hydrogen
Rocky Core
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Impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
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Jupiters Ring System
Jupiters rings are made of dark dust with a
rocky composition. How do we know this?
The Roche limit is the distance from a planet
inside of which a satellite cannot be held
together by gravity. If the satellite and the
planet have about the same density, the Roche
limit is about 2.44 times the radius of the
planet. If the satellite is closer to the planet
than this, the tidal forces of the planet tear it
apart.
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Galilean Satellite Interior Models
Io
Europa
r 1820 km r 3.55 g/cm3
r 1565 km r 3 g/cm3
Ganymede
Callisto
r 2420 kmr 1.79 g/cm3
r 2640 kmr 1.9 g/cm3
Jupiter has more than 300 moons.
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Io in Jupiters Shadow
Pillan Patera
Temperature between 2600 and 3140oF.
Hottest terrestrial volcanoes have maximum
temperatures of about 2240oF.
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Pele, Pillan Patera, and a New Volcano
Pilan Patera
A new eruption
Pele
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Eruption of the Volcano Loki on Io
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Ios Plasma Torus
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Source of Ios Heat

• Heat of Formation? No. Because of its small
  size, it cooled rapidly after it formed.
• Radioactive Decay? No. A small object would
  have very little naturally radioactive material.
  The small amount of heat generated would be
  quickly lost.
• Tidal Heating. Yes. The continual flexing of a
  moons crust due to tidal interactions with the
  planet and/or other moons would effectively heat
  the moon, especially if its orbit is elliptical.
• Tides on Io as high as 100 m.

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Io Flux Tube
Base of Io Flux Tube
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Europas Surface
What does the smoothness of Ios crust tell us
about its interior?
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Model of Europas Interior
Relatively clean, icy crust
Metallic Core
Rock
Liquid Water
The Galileo probe measurements of the magnetic
the magnetic field induced in Europa by Jupiters
rapidly rotating magnetic field demonstrate that
under a brittle crust, there is a shell of salty
water.
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Ganymede
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Model of Ganymedes Interior
Icy Mantle
Metallic Core
Icy Crust
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Callisto
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Model of Callistos Interior
Crust a mixture of ice and rock
Thin shell of liquid water
Mixture of ice and rock