With all the discussions going on about Pluto recently, there are still things about Jupiter out there that many folks may not know. That is the subject of the article below.
That it is a gas giant along with Saturn, or that it is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium has been widely discussed.
That it has the incredibly large Giant Red Spot (anti cyclonic storm) which remains relatively fixed in position is probably the most well know feature about the planet.
But with the many exploratory craft that have visited (Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo and New Horizons for example), some other interesting facts have surfaced as well.
The article isn’t long, but I think you will find it worthwhile reading and sharing …
Jupiter Globe Date: 7 Dec 2000 This true-color simulated view of Jupiter is composed of four images taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. These images were combined and the cylindrical map projected onto a globe in order to illustrate what Jupiter would look like if the cameras used to image this planet had a field-of-view large enough to capture the entire planet. The resolution is about 144 km (89 miles) per pixel. Jupiter’s moon Europa is casting the shadow on the planet. Last Update: 9 Jun 2011 (AMB) Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
10 Need-to-Know Things About Jupiter:
If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, the Earth would be the size of a nickel and Jupiter would be about as big as a basketball.
Jupiter orbits our sun, a star. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun at a distance of about 778 million km (484 million miles) or 5.2 AU.
One day on Jupiter takes about 10 hours (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate or spin once). Jupiter makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Jovian time) in about 12 Earth years (4,333 Earth days).
Jupiter is a gas-giant planet and therefore does not have a solid surface. However, it is predicted that Jupiter has an inner, solid core about the size of the Earth.
Jupiter’s atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He).
Jupiter has 50 known moons, with an additional 17 moons awaiting confirmation of their discovery — that is a total of 67 moons.
Jupiter has a faint ring system that was discovered in 1979 by the Voyager 1 mission.
Many missions have visited Jupiter and its system of moons. The Juno mission will arrive at Jupiter in 2016.
Jupiter cannot support life as we know it. However, some of Jupiter’s moons have oceans underneath their crusts that might support life.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm (bigger than Earth) that has been raging for hundreds of years.
