1. The planets in our Solar System

3. * * * * * *

5. 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 – 2003.
Hubble Space Telescope - observations since April 25, 1990.
Cassini – en route to Saturn, December 2000, and now there.

6. Voyager Spacecraft

8. Galileo Mission to Jupiter and its moons

10. The Voyager Spacecraft on its way, looking back at Earth and our Moon

11. Galileo atmospheric probe of Jupiter’s atmosphere - December 7th, 1995
Depth of measurements ~200 km

12. 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

14. Jupiter’s Cloud Structure
180 km 1 2 km
Red Spot 3
90 km km 4
30 km 5

15. -143 C o o o
-18 C
127 C

16. Some features in Jupiter’s dynamic atmosphere change just like weather on Earth. The 2 images are 10 hours apart.

17. Winds at top of atmosphere – travel in opposite directions at different latitudes

19. Observed circulation of Jupiter’s Red Spot

20. Jupiter’s Red Spot is a 350 year old hurrican!
Nighttime image showing lightning in Jupiter’s atmosphere

21. Other storms (“small spots”) in Jupiter’s atmosphere

22. Ring around Jupiter, discovered by the Voyager Spacecraft

23. Ring system – made of fragments of ice
182,000 km
Moons inside ring system

24. Internal structure
of Jupiter

25. 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).

26. Aurora at poles of Jupiter – show that Jupiter has a strong magnetic field

27. Jupiter summary