Jupiter

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Jupiter
Discovery Data
Discovered By	Antiquity
Discovered On	Antiquity
Physical Characteristics
Diameter	142984 km
Mass	317.8 of Earth's
Density	1326 kg/m
Number of Moons	95
Volume	1321 of Earth's
Axial Tilt	3.13°
Albedo	0.503
Rotational Period	10 hours
Temperature	-146°C
Atmospheric Data
Atmospheric Composition	89%±2.0% hydrogen 10%±2.0% helium 0.3%±0.1% methane 0.026%±0.004% ammonia 0.0028%±0.001% hydrogen deuteride 0.0006%±0.0002% ethane 0.0004%±0.0004% water
Orbital Characteristics
Orbital Period	11.86 years
Semi-Major Axis	5.204 AU
Perihelion	4.95 AU
Aphelion	5.457 AU
Escape Velocity	59.5 km/s
Eccentricity	0.049
Inclination	1.31°

Jupiter is the 5th planet to the Sun, and is also the largest planet in our solar system. In fact, Jupiter is so big that up to 1300 Earths can fit inside of it.

Jupiter's atmospheric composition is made of the same elements as the Sun, hydrogen and helium. However, unlike the Sun, Jupiter does not have enough gravity and mass to begin nuclear fusion and become a star or even a brown dwarf.

Seasons on Jupiter are not very extreme due to its tilt. It takes nearly 12 years to complete its orbit but what is interesting is that it is the fastest rotating planet in the solar system because it takes only 10 hours to complete one rotation.

Like all the other Jovian planets, Jupiter has a ring system. However, its ring system is the least massive out of all the planets and is much smaller than Saturn's extensive ring system and is barely visible to the naked eye.

Atmosphere

See also: Atmosphere of Jupiter

The atmosphere of Jupiter consists of hydrogen, helium, and ammonia as well as trace amounts of water, ethane and methane.

Cloud layers

Jupiter is completely covered with clouds of ammonia crystals, which may contain ammonium hydrosulfide. The clouds are located in the tropopause layer of the atmosphere, forming bands at different latitudes, known as tropical regions. These are subdivided into lighter-hued zones and darker belts. The interactions of these conflicting circulation patterns cause storms and turbulence. Wind speeds of 100 metres per second (360 km/h; 220 mph) are common in zonal jet streams. The zones have been observed to vary in width, colour and intensity from year to year, but they all remain stable enough for scientists to name them.

Great Red Spot

Main article: Great Red Spot

Moons

Main article: Moons of Jupiter

As of March 2024, Jupiter has 95 confirmed moons. There are definitely more irregular moons of Jupiter that were seen in image analysis, but had insufficient data to have a confirmed orbit. Some of Jupiter’s moons include the Galilean Moons, some of the largest and unique moons in the solar system.

“Bruises” on Jupiter’s surface after the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact.

Shoemaker-Levy 9

Main article: Shoemaker-Levy 9

D/1993 F2, or Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, was a short-period comet that began orbiting Jupiter around the early 1980's. On July 16, 1994, the first piece impacted on 8:13 pm. Before this, the comet split into 21 pieces, and the first one to hit , designated "fragment A" was one of the pieces of the comet's nucleus that collided. The other ones collided at different times after the fact.

Exploration

The flyby missions of Jupiter began in the year of 1973 with, the most notable spacecraft, Pioneer 10, making its first flyby in December of 1973. The last flyby mission was made by New Horizons, which came within two million miles of Jupiter. The farthest approach was made by the second Ulysses mission, which came within one hundred twenty million miles of the planet. The closest approach of of them all was Juno, which came with five thousand kilometers of the planet.

Below is a chart of the spacecrafts, their closest approaches, in kilometers, and the date of their closest approaches, and for orbiters, the day when they when they were first captured.

Flybys

List of Jupiter flyby missions

Name of Spacecraft	Distance of Closest Approach	Date of Closest Approach
Pioneer 10	129,560 km	December 3, 1973
Pioneer 11	33,700 km	December 4, 1974
Voyager 1	348,950 km	March 5, 1979
Voyager 2	595,000 km	July 9, 1979
Ulysses (#1)	410,000 km	February 8, 1992
Cassini-Huygens	10,200,000 km	December 30, 2000
Ulysses (#2)	119,780,000 km	February 4, 2004
New Horizons	2,305,000 km	February 28, 2007

Orbiters

Name of Spacecraft	Closest Approach	Day of Approach
Galileo	260 km (primary mission)	December 7, 1995
Juno	3,300 km	July 4, 2016

Future Missions

Orbiters

Name of Spacecraft	Date of Approach	Date of Launch
JUICE	July 2031	April 14, 2023
Europa Clipper	April 11, 2030	October 10, 2024 (planned)

Gallery/Images

See Also

• Saturn
• Great Red Spot
• Outer Solar System