[49], The magnetosphere of Jupiter is responsible for intense episodes of radio emission from the planet's polar regions. )", "Moons of Jupiter articles in Planetary Science Research Discoveries", Photographs of Jupiter circa 1920s from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections, Interactive 3D gravity simulation of the Jovian system, List of interstellar and circumstellar molecules, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jupiter&oldid=990767543, Astronomical objects known since antiquity, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2019, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2015, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2018, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from May 2020, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Pages using multiple image with manual scaled images, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2015, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. [141] Imaging of the Jovian system began September 4, 2006. It is classed as a gas giant, as is Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It has since increased in intensity and changed color from white to red. Scientists have for the first time detected water clouds deep inside the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. [117], In 1610, Italian polymath Galileo Galilei discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter (now known as the Galilean moons) using a telescope; thought to be the first telescopic observation of moons other than Earth's. [36] Helium is also depleted to about 80% of the Sun's helium composition. At the pressure level of 10 bars (1 MPa), the temperature is around 340 K (67 °C; 152 °F). [122], Both Giovanni Borelli and Cassini made careful tables of the motions of Jupiter's moons, allowing predictions of the times when the moons would pass before or behind the planet. [127], In 1955, Bernard Burke and Kenneth Franklin detected bursts of radio signals coming from Jupiter at 22.2 MHz. Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered with ice with an under which is the ocean. The discovery was a major point in favor of Copernicus' heliocentric theory of the motions of the planets; Galileo's outspoken support of the Copernican theory placed him under the threat of the Inquisition. [166] The largest is 624 Hektor. [19] When viewed from Earth, Jupiter can be bright enough for its reflected light to cast visible shadows,[20] and is on average the third-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. Data from NASA’s Juno mission indicates that most of the lightning activity on Jupiter is near its ... [+] poles. Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and has a water-ice crust and probably an iron–nickel core. Published recently in the journal Nature Astronomy, the Juno results estimate that at the equator, water makes up about 0.25% of the molecules in Jupiter's … [102] In turn, Jupiter was the counterpart to the mythical Greek Zeus (Ζεύς), also referred to as Dias (Δίας), the planetary name of which is retained in modern Greek. [134] Gravity assists through planetary flybys can be used to reduce the energy required to reach Jupiter, albeit at the cost of a significantly longer flight duration. That is, for a period Jupiter seems to move backward in the night sky, performing a looping motion. At this depth, the pressure and temperature are above hydrogen's critical pressure of 1.2858 MPa and critical temperature of only 32.938 K.[56] In this state, there are no distinct liquid and gas phases—hydrogen is said to be in a supercritical fluid state. [40][137], Six years later, the Voyager missions vastly improved the understanding of the Galilean moons and discovered Jupiter's rings. [103] The ancient Greeks knew the planet as Phaethon (Φαέθων), meaning "shining one" or "blazing star. Even before Voyager proved that the feature was a storm, there was strong evidence that the spot could not be associated with any deeper feature on the planet's surface, as the Spot rotates differentially with respect to the rest of the atmosphere, sometimes faster and sometimes more slowly. Ganymede, the largest of these, has a diameter greater than that of the planet Mercury. [121], The Red Spot was reportedly lost from sight on several occasions between 1665 and 1708 before becoming quite conspicuous in 1878. The innermost layer may be made of water ice and vapor. As of 2015[update], the storm was measured at approximately 16,500 by 10,940 km (10,250 by 6,800 mi),[82] and is decreasing in length by about 930 km (580 mi) per year.[80][83]. Supporting the idea of water clouds are the flashes of lightning detected in the atmosphere of Jupiter. It is convenient to treat hydrogen as gas extending downward from the cloud layer to a depth of about 1,000 km,[49] and as liquid in deeper layers. [49], The Great Red Spot, a prominent oval-shaped feature in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter, may have been observed as early as 1664 by Robert Hooke and in 1665 by Cassini, although this is disputed. [40], The best known feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot,[70] a persistent anticyclonic storm that is larger than Earth, located 22° south of the equator. Irregular moons that belong to a group share similar orbital elements and thus may have a common origin, perhaps as a larger moon or captured body that broke up. Depending on Jupiter's position with respect to the Earth, it can vary in visual magnitude from as bright as −2.94[14] at opposition down to[14] −1.66 during conjunction with the Sun. Jupiter is filled with swirling storms that originate in the water-cloud layer – or perhaps even deeper. [25] The mission plan called for Juno to study the planet in detail from a polar orbit. Electrons within the plasma sheet generate a strong radio signature that produces bursts in the range of 0.6–30 MHz which are detectable from Earth with consumer-grade shortwave radio receivers. For the Roman god, see, Fifth planet from the Sun and largest planet in the Solar System, Full disk view in natural color, taken by the, Enhanced color view of Jupiter's southern storms, The retrograde motion of an outer planet is caused by its relative location with respect to Earth. As it does so, Jupiter appears to undergo retrograde motion with respect to the background stars. The volcanoes on the moon Io emit large amounts of sulfur dioxide, forming a gas torus along the moon's orbit. [45] It orbited the planet for over seven years, conducting multiple flybys of all the Galilean moons and Amalthea. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. [163] In a similar way, the moons Thebe and Amalthea probably produce the two distinct components of the dusty gossamer ring. [145] It melted thereafter, and possibly vaporized. A dispersed and only vaguely distinct retrograde group that covers all the outermost moons. [27] Regularly these systems include a few planets with masses several times greater than Earth's (super-Earths), orbiting closer to their star than Mercury is to the Sun, and sometimes also Jupiter-mass gas giants close to their star. [124] It was the last planetary moon to be discovered directly by visual observation. The trajectories of these spacecraft were used to refine the mass estimates of the Jovian system. Entering a Hohmann transfer orbit from Earth to Jupiter from low Earth orbit requires a delta-v of 6.3 km/s[133] which is comparable to the 9.7 km/s delta-v needed to reach low Earth orbit. During the period July 16, 1994, to July 22, 1994, over 20 fragments from the. The Galileo orbiter itself experienced a more rapid version of the same fate when it was deliberately steered into the planet on September 21, 2003 at a speed of over 50 km/s to avoid any possibility of it crashing into and possibly contaminating Europa, a moon which has been hypothesized to have the possibility of harboring life. These are sub-divided into lighter-hued zones and darker belts. The planet Jupiter has been known since ancient times. A torus of ionized atoms was discovered along Io's orbital path, and volcanoes were found on the moon's surface, some in the process of erupting. This moon was later named Amalthea. They also confirmed that the Great Red Spot was anticyclonic. [65] The zones have been observed to vary in width, color and intensity from year to year, but they have remained sufficiently stable for scientists to give them identifying designations. There's a … [119], During the 1660s, Giovanni Cassini used a new telescope to discover spots and colorful bands on Jupiter and observed that the planet appeared oblate; that is, flattened at the poles. These peoples calculated the period of the orbit of Jupiter as 11 years and 300 days. [91] [92], At about 75 Jupiter radii from the planet, the interaction of the magnetosphere with the solar wind generates a bow shock. It performed a flyby maneuver to attain a polar orbit around the Sun. [78], The Great Red Spot is large enough to accommodate Earth within its boundaries. [44] For small changes in mass, the radius would not change appreciably, and above about 500 M⊕ (1.6 Jupiter masses)[44] the interior would become so much more compressed under the increased pressure that its volume would decrease despite the increasing amount of matter. On Jupiter, the equatorial diameter is 9,275 km (5,763 mi) longer than the diameter measured through the poles. This is seen most dramatically in the extraordinary volcanic activity of innermost Io (which is subject to the strongest tidal forces), and to a lesser degree in the geological youth of Europa's surface (indicating recent resurfacing of the moon's exterior). The orbits of three of them (Io, Europa, and Ganymede) form a pattern known as a Laplace resonance; for every four orbits that Io makes around Jupiter, Europa makes exactly two orbits and Ganymede makes exactly one. Long thought to be virtually dry, it turns out that Jupiter has significant water. Jupiter's familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. I inspire people to go stargazing, watch the Moon, enjoy the night sky, EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Michigan Economic Development Corporation BrandVoice. A fairly distinct retrograde group that averages 23,404,000 km from Jupiter with an average inclination of 165 degrees. The inner group of four small moons all have diameters of less than 200 km, orbit at radii less than 200,000 km, and have orbital inclinations of less than half a degree. As a result, radio waves are generated through a cyclotron maser mechanism, and the energy is transmitted out along a cone-shaped surface. [50] When it was first formed, Jupiter was much hotter and was about twice its current diameter. The Romans named the planet after the Roman God, Jupiter. Jupiter also has white ovals and brown ovals, which are lesser unnamed storms. Since then, the large number of new small outer moons has complicated this picture. This was created when several smaller, white oval-shaped storms merged to form a single feature—these three smaller white ovals were first observed in 1938. Also, one of Jupiter’s icy moons could deliver water to the planet via a giant vapour torus, as Herschel has seen from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, but this too has been ruled out. The older adjectival form jovial, employed by astrologers in the Middle Ages, has come to mean "happy" or "merry", moods ascribed to Jupiter's astrological influence.[106]. [63][64] Because Jupiter has no surface, the base of its atmosphere is usually considered to be the point at which atmospheric pressure is equal to 100 kPa (1.0 bar). The tidal force from Jupiter, on the other hand, works to circularize their orbits.[158]. Such storms can last as little as a few hours or stretch on for centuries. It is known to have been in existence since at least 1831,[71] and possibly since 1665. As a result, Jupiter is thought to have about as large a diameter as a planet of its composition and evolutionary history can achieve. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. Except for the top of the Great Red Spot, the white clouds are the highest, with cloud-top temperatures of about 120 kelvins (K; −240 °F, or −150 °C). [49] The main ring is probably made of material ejected from the satellites Adrastea and Metis. I'm an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer writing about exploring the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses, moon-gazing, astro-travel, astronomy and space exploration. [140] The probe's cameras measured plasma output from volcanoes on Io and studied all four Galilean moons in detail, as well as making long-distance observations of the outer moons Himalia and Elara. [58], Because Jupiter is not a solid body, its upper atmosphere undergoes differential rotation. Decametric radio bursts (with a wavelength of tens of meters) vary with the rotation of Jupiter, and are influenced by interaction of Io with Jupiter's magnetic field. Refers to the level of 1 bar atmospheric pressure, Based on the volume within the level of 1 bar atmospheric pressure, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Fortescue, Peter W.; Stark, John and Swinerd, Graham, Formation and evolution of the Solar System, Timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their moons, "Query Results from the Astronomy Database", "The MeanPlane (Invariable plane) of the Solar System passing through the barycenter", JPL Horizons for Jupiter (mb=599) and Observer Location: @Sun, "A Dozen New Moons of Jupiter Discovered, Including One "Oddball, "Solar System Exploration: Jupiter: Facts & Figures", "Empirical models of Jupiter's interior from Juno data", "Report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 2000", "Less absorbed solar energy and more internal heat for Jupiter", "Report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on cartographic coordinates and rotational elements: 2006", "Young astronomer captures a shadow cast by Jupiter: Bad Astronomy", "NASA's Juno Spacecraft Enters Jupiter's Orbit", "Interactive Extra-solar Planets Catalog", "Jupiter's decisive role in the inner Solar System's early evolution", "Observe: Jupiter, Wrecking Ball of Early Solar System", "Constraints on terrestrial planet formation timescales and equilibration processes in the Grand Tack scenario from Hf-W isotopic evolution", "Jupiter's Atmospheric Composition from the Cassini Thermal Infrared Spectroscopy Experiment", "The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia: Interactive Catalogue", "Interiors of Giant Planets Inside and Outside the Solar System", "VLT Interferometer Measures the Size of Proxima Centauri and Other Nearby Stars", "A core-warping impact in Jupiter's past? Jupiter is one of the brightest objects visible to the naked eye in the night sky, and has been known to ancient civilizations since before recorded history. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei and was named after Europa, the Phoenician mother of King Minos of Crete and lover of Zeus (the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter). Instead, ESA planned to go ahead with a European-only mission to compete in its L1 Cosmic Vision selection.[156]. The planet is shaped as an oblate spheroid, meaning that the diameter across its equator is longer than the diameter measured between its poles. [155] However, ESA had formally ended the partnership by April 2011, citing budget issues at NASA and the consequences on the mission timetable. Earth and its neighbor planets may have formed from fragments of planets after collisions with Jupiter destroyed those super-Earths near the Sun. The huge Plumes of water vapour erupting into space from Jupiter's moon Europa could have a potential source none other than the pockets that exist within the icy crust, as per a new study. It was later determined, however, that these candidate sites had little or no possibility of being the results of the proposed impacts.[174]. “Because the equatorial region is very unique at Jupiter, we need to compare these results with how much water is in other regions.”, Juno’s 53-day orbit is highly elliptical, and only occasionally does it perform a close flyby of the planet. Another citizen scientists image processor, artist Seán Doran, then posted this image of Jupiter from Juno’s perijove 25 whose colors resemble “The Starry Night” oil panting by Vincent van Gogh. Scientists have been eager to learn more about the abundance of water in Jupiter's atmosphere, and NASA's Juno spacecraft is finally offering up some answers. At the phase transition region where hydrogen—heated beyond its critical point—becomes metallic, it is calculated the temperature is 10,000 K (9,700 °C; 17,500 °F) and the pressure is 200 GPa. The four largest moons, visible from Earth with binoculars on a clear night, known as the "Galilean moons", are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. It's the largest planet … [110], In Germanic mythology, Jupiter is equated to Thor, whence the English name Thursday for the Roman dies Jovis. [120] In 1690 Cassini noticed that the atmosphere undergoes differential rotation. Ulysses has no cameras so no images were taken. [23] Jupiter has been explored on a number of occasions by robotic spacecraft, beginning with the Pioneer and Voyager flyby missions from 1973 to 1979, and later by the Galileo orbiter, which arrived at Jupiter in 1995. The survey initially produced eight more candidate sites as potential impact observations that he and others had recorded between 1664 and 1839. [6][157] Of these, 63 are less than 10 kilometres in diameter and have only been discovered since 1975. Jupiter has 79 known moons,[22] including the four large Galilean moons discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. A third isolated case, which has a prograde orbit but overlaps the retrograde groups listed below; this may result in a future collision. Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a quarter of its mass being helium, though helium comprises only about a tenth of the number of molecules. Because the orbit of Jupiter is outside that of Earth, the phase angle of Jupiter as viewed from Earth never exceeds 11.5°: Jupiter always appears nearly fully illuminated when viewed through Earth-based telescopes. Jupiter's appearance is a tapestry of colorful cloud bands and spots. New data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which launched in 2011 and is orbiting the planet … [52] A possible cause is an impact from a planet of about ten Earth masses a few million years after Jupiter's formation, which would have disrupted an originally solid Jovian core. However, the formation timescales of terrestrial planets resulting from the grand tack hypothesis appear inconsistent with the measured terrestrial composition. Ole Rømer deduced that light does not travel instantaneously (a conclusion that Cassini had earlier rejected),[35] and this timing discrepancy was used to estimate the speed of light. [135], Beginning in 1973, several spacecraft have performed planetary flyby maneuvers that brought them within observation range of Jupiter. The top cloud is probably made of ammonia ice, while the middle layer is likely made of ammonium hydrosulfide crystals. By the 4th century BC, these observations had developed into the Chinese zodiac,[114] with each year associated with a Tai Sui star and god controlling the region of the heavens opposite Jupiter's position in the night sky; these beliefs survive in some Taoist religious practices and in the East Asian zodiac's twelve animals, now often popularly assumed to be related to the arrival of the animals before Buddha. [45] The process of further shrinkage with increasing mass would continue until appreciable stellar ignition was achieved, as in high-mass brown dwarfs having around 50 Jupiter masses. [118] It was Marius's names for the four major moons, however, that stuck—Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. [29] Jupiter moving out of the inner Solar System would have allowed the formation of inner planets, including Earth. [168] Jupiter is the only body in the Solar System for which this is true. Yet another fireball was seen on August 20, 2010. NASA's Juno mission has provided its first science results on the amount of water in Jupiter's atmosphere. [136], In 2000, the Cassini probe flew by Jupiter on its way to Saturn, and provided some of the highest-resolution images ever made of the planet. It is one of the brightest objects in the night sky; only the Moon, Venus, and sometimes Mars are more brilliant. That’s about three times more than thought to be at the Sun. The original Greek deity Zeus supplies the root zeno-, used to form some Jupiter-related words, such as zenographic. Material that would normally fall back to the moon is pulled into Jupiter because of its strong gravitational influence.