The Solar System

Jupiter: Zeus, God of the Sky

Jupiter Profile Size Distance from the sun 120 times the size of earth. Mass is 320 times the mass of Earth. Largest planet in our solar system Distance from the sun 483.5 million miles from the sun.

The Core A gas giant Made of 90% hydrogen, and 10% helium. Jupiter’s core is twice the size of Earth. The core is predicted to be a liquid. However, with the incredible mass, some scientists believe it could be solid.

Jupiter is one of the Gas Giants. What you're really looking at a thick layer of hydrogen and helium clouds that completely cover the planet. Jupiter, itself, is made up of liquid hydrogen on the "surface." Below this is liquid metallic hydrogen. The center is a big chunk of ice and rock.

The Atmosphere Temperatures Known (-234 degrees F at the cloud tops) to 86°F on the surface The center is thought to perhaps reach 64340 ºF Check this out Another cool thing is that Jupiter is only 80 times smaller than the sun, meaning that if Jupiter were just 80 times bigger, we might orbit around Jupiter instead of our sun. Therefore, we will call Jupiter “the sun that never was.”

Can we Live there? Well, first of all, there's no surface to stand on... You'd just have to swim around in an ocean of liquid hydrogen. But the gravity on Jupiter is so strong that you'd sink anyway. There's no oxygen to breathe or water to drink. So, the answer is NO!

The Orbit Jupiter will complete one revolution in 4,332 Earth days, or 11.8 Earth years. If we could live there, we would die at about the age of 6.8 on average. We would graduate from college at the age of 2 Jupiter will make a complete rotation in 9.9 Earth hours.

Jupiter is a really big magnet. The hottest temperatures in our solar system occur in Jupiter's magnetosphere. This is kind of like a big halo that the magnetic field makes around a planet. The temperatures here can be a high as 300-400 million K (or 539,999,540.6 ºF to 719,999,540.6 ºF) . The center of the Sun is only 15 million K. (26,999,540.6 F Not only is Jupiter's magnetosphere the hottest thing in our solar system, it's the biggest too! It goes out past Saturn and you'd even be able to fit the Sun inside of it.

Did you notice that Jupiter is made up of the same stuff as the Sun? So, is Jupiter hot like the Sun? It's magnetosphere sure is hot... But Jupiter, itself, is not hot. The reason is that it just isn't big enough. Because Jupiter is a LOT smaller than the Sun, it just doesn't have a strong enough gravity to get the hydrogen atoms running around enough.

Moons Jupiter has 67 moons and counting. However, 4 moons are what Jupiter is most known for. Io Europa Ganymede Callisto

Io Io has tides, but not for the water, but for the hard surface. As Io revolves around Jupiter, Jupiter uses its magnetic field to strip off about 1 ton of Io’s rocks every second. This moon will eventually be eaten up by Jupiter, bit by bit. Io

Europa is an icy moon that is full of frozen oceans Europa is an icy moon that is full of frozen oceans. We are not sure if it is H2O, but we are sure that the liquid underneath the frozen ocean is still liquid. The pull from Jupiter causes tremendous tides making cracks in the frozen ocean. Europa

Believe it or not…Ganymede has oxygen Believe it or not…Ganymede has oxygen. However, not enough in the atmosphere to support life as far as we know. This is the largest moon in our solar system, and if it orbited the sun, it would be considered a planet. Ganymede

Callisto Welcome to the most crater hit moon in our solar system. Callisto shows no signs of any restructuring in terms of rock movement. Most scientists believe this may be the largest dead rock in our solar system. Callisto

Jupiter, the moon killer Without Jupiter, we would not exist. Because there is so much gravity with Jupiter, it sucks in most foreign objects that would otherwise strike our Earth. However, it will eventually suck up all of its moons and destroy them. So, we will call Jupiter, the moon killer, and the planet saver.

A storm has been brewing on Jupiter for more than 300 years A storm has been brewing on Jupiter for more than 300 years. This is called “the spot” and it is a storm 3 times the size of Earth. Over the years, other spots have been identified, but they eventually combed too close to the major storm and became a part of it. The Spot

Winds of more than 600 km/h blow in opposite directions in adjacent bands, while slight chemical and temperature differences between the bands are responsible for their different shades of yellow, brown, orange, and red. 

Awesome picture of the spot (storm)

Our View of Jupiter

Jupiter has rings…three of them to be exact. One last Random Fact