The planets in our Solar System
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Spacecraft Observations of Jupiter Pioneer 10 flew by Jupiter on December 1, 1973. Pioneer 11 flew by Jupiter on December 1, 1974. Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter on March 5, 1979. Voyager 2 flew by Jupiter on July 9, 1979. Ulysses, studies the poles of the Sun. Jupiter flyby February 8, 1992. Galileo Orbiter/Atmospheric Probe - 1995 – 2003. Hubble Space Telescope - observations since April 25, 1990. Cassini – en route to Saturn, December 2000, and now there.
Voyager Spacecraft
Galileo Mission to Jupiter and its moons
The Voyager Spacecraft on its way, looking back at Earth and our Moon
Galileo atmospheric probe of Jupiter’s atmosphere - December 7th, 1995 Depth of measurements ~200 km
Jupiter, with its dark belts (where gases move down into the interior), and light zones (where gases move upwards). Also visible is the Great Red Spot, a huge hurricane that has been observed from Earth for ~ 350 years, and other more or less temporary surface features
Jupiter’s Cloud Structure 180 km 1 2 120 - 110 km Red Spot 3 90 km 70 - 80 km 4 30 km 5
-143 C o o o -18 C 127 C
Some features in Jupiter’s dynamic atmosphere change just like weather on Earth. The 2 images are 10 hours apart.
Winds at top of atmosphere – travel in opposite directions at different latitudes
Observed circulation of Jupiter’s Red Spot
Jupiter’s Red Spot is a 350 year old hurrican! Nighttime image showing lightning in Jupiter’s atmosphere
Other storms (“small spots”) in Jupiter’s atmosphere
Ring around Jupiter, discovered by the Voyager Spacecraft
Ring system – made of fragments of ice 182,000 km Moons inside ring system
Internal structure of Jupiter
Strength of the magnetic fields of the planets. Jupiter has by far the strongest magnetic field, because its interior is made of an excellent electric conductor (liquid metallic hydrogen), and because the planet rotates around its axis faster than any other (once in 10 hours).
Aurora at poles of Jupiter – show that Jupiter has a strong magnetic field
Jupiter summary