 | Patsy Terrell is public relations and events coordinator of The Kansas Cosmosphere, located at 1100 N. Plum in Hutchinson. The Cosmosphere’s mission is to honor the past and inspire the future of space exploration. They provide information, education and entertainment with regard to science. You can contact Pasty by phone at 620-662-6305; by email at patsyt@cosmo.org or at The Kansas Cosmosphere, 1100 N. Plum, Hutchinson, KS 67501. |
Science
2011-04-01 13:55:00
All about Jupiter
Question: What’s the largest planet in our Solar System?
Answer: Jupiter is the largest planet in Earth’s solar system, and also has the largest atmosphere. The diameter of Jupiter is 11 times that of Earth. It’s often the third brightest object in the night sky, after the moon and Venus. It was known by ancient astronomers and was part of the culture and mythology of multiple societies.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It’s mostly hydrogen, with about one quarter being helium...
Jupiter has at least 63 moons, including four large ones first discovered by Galileo in 1610. He found the four largest moons of Jupiter - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (now known as the Galilean moons) - using a telescope. It’s believed this was the first observation of a moon other than Earth’s.
Jupiter is famous for the “Great Red Spot,” a giant storm, which was seen by telescope possibly as early as the 17th century. It is large enough to be visible through Earth-based telescopes, and is thought to be a permanent feature of the planet. It has been photographed by robotic spacecraft more than once. In 1979, Voyager provided a dramatic view of the Great Red Spot when it was 5.7 million miles from Jupiter. The storm itself is larger than Earth. Although it was suspected before that, Voyager proved it was a storm.
The only spacecraft to orbit Jupiter is the Galileo orbiter, which went into orbit around Jupiter on December 7, 1995. It orbited the planet for over seven years, conducting multiple flybys of all the Galilean moons and Amalthea. The spacecraft also witnessed the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 as it approached Jupiter in 1994, giving a unique vantage point for the event.
Jupiter is covered with clouds and flashes of lightning have been detected in its atmosphere. These electrical discharges can be up to a thousand times as powerful as lightning on the Earth.
Jupiter also has white ovals and brown ovals, which are lesser unnamed storms. White ovals tend to consist of relatively cool clouds within the upper atmosphere. Brown ovals are warmer and located within the “normal cloud layer.” Such storms can last as little as a few hours or stretch on for centuries.
Jupiter has a faint planetary ring system where the rings appear to be made of dust, rather than ice as with Saturn’s rings. Jupiter tilts only slightly on its axis, so it does not have dramatic seasonal changes like Earth does. Jupiter’s rotation is the fastest of all the planets in our solar system, completing one rotation about every 10 hours.
