1. Jupiter Astronomy 311 Professor Lee Carkner Lecture 17

2. Jupiter -- King of the Gods  Named after the king of the gods by the Romans because of its brightness 

3. Viewing Jupiter from Earth  Is very bright from Earth    First viewed through a telescope by Galileo (1610) 

4. Jupiter Facts  Size:  Orbit:  Description:

5. Viewing Jupiter from Space  Much information comes from Voyager 1 and 2 (reached Jupiter in 1979)    The Galileo spacecraft ended its mission in 2003  

6. Galileo’s Atmosphere Probe

7. Galileo Atmosphere Probe   Lasted for 1 hour and got down to 130 km below the tops of the clouds before the high temperature and pressure killed the electronics

8. Shoemaker-Levy 9  Discovered in 1993   Swung back around and hit Jupiter in 1994  

9. Shoemaker-Levy 9

10. Shoemaker-Levy 9 Hits Jupiter

11. Comet Debris Impacts on Ganymede

12. Jupiter’s Atmosphere    The belts are produced by convection    Jupiter’s rotation shapes the regions of rising and falling material into belts and zones

13. Belts in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

14. Jupiter’s Rotation  Jupiter has a rotation period of about 10 hours   Jupiter also has differential rotation  

15. Structure of Jupiter’s Atmosphere  Infrared, radio and Galileo probe observations reveal 3 cloud layers     The color of the layers depends on depth  Brown --  White --  Red --  Not all layers are found in all regions 

16. Structure of Jupiter’s Atmosphere

17. Spots and Ovals  Many oval features are seen in images of Jupiter   Some are very long lived    Color may correspond to altitude 

18. Hubble Views the Great Red Spot

19. Interlude Gravity  Every object in the solar system pulls on every other due to gravity  This can cause perturbations in orbits  We can calculate the effects of gravity using Newton’s equation F=GMm/D 2  We can use a modified version of this equation which shows the relative force a planet exerts: F=M/D 2

20. Jupiter’s Interior   Small core of rock and ice (about the size of the Earth)   Liquid metallic hydrogen outer core (40- 50,000 km thick)   Hydrogen gas layer 10-20,000 km thick

21. The Interior of Jupiter

22. Rings    May be formed from material chipped off of 4 small inner moons by impacts

23. Jupiter’s Main Ring

24. Diagram of Jupiter’s Rings and Inner Moons

25. Jupiter’s Moons  Jupiter has more large satellites than any other planet   The four largest are called the Galilean satellites after their discoverer 

26. Jupiter’s Magnetosphere

27.  Jupiter generates a very strong magnetic field in the liquid metallic hydrogen layer   The magnetosphere deflects the solar wind to form a shock wave  Also contains:   

28. Summary  Jupiter is the largest planet  Its strong gravity influence the motions of the rest of the solar system  Rotates rapidly and differentially  Explored by Voyager, HST, Galileo, and a comet impact

29. Summary: Atmosphere  Explored by telescopes, Galileo probe and comet impact  Clouds are composed of ammonia and sulfur compounds  Clouds form bands of material moving in opposite directions  Spots and ovals are storms which can occur at different altitudes and can be long lived  Heat from Jupiter’s interior and rotation drives motions

30. Summary: Jupiter From the Outside In  Satellites: out to ~24 million km  Magnetosphere: out to ~15 million km  Rings: out to ~200,000 km  Atmosphere: out to ~70,000 km  Liquid metallic hydrogen: out to ~50,000 km  Rock/Ice core: out to ~20,000 km