Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Province of Laguna

Vismonte, Angela C. Science 5 –

Astronomy
BSED Science 2E Prof. Bernardita
Rosales

Chapter VIII: Planets

The Planet Jupiter

The roman mythology gave names to five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn. Jupiter being the biggest planet, gets its name from the King of the
ancient Roman Gods, Jupiter. The Planet Jupiter or also known as the “Gas Giant”
or the “King of planets” is the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter has a hollow
shell, 1,000 planet Earth can fit the planet Jupiter.

Jupiter’s Data, and Atmosphere

Average Distance from the Sun 5.203 AU
Number of Moons 95 Moons
Average Orbital Speed 13.1 km/s
Rotation Period 9 hours, 50 minutes, and 28 seconds
Orbital Period 11.86 years
Diameter 142,984km = 11.209 Earth Diameter
Mass 1.898 × 10^27 kg or 317.8 Earth
masses.
Atmosphere 86.2% Hydrogen, 13.6% Helium, 0.2%
Methane, Ammonia, Water vapor, and
other gasses

Jupiter’s Orbit and Rotation

Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. One day on Jupiter takes only about
10 hours (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate or spin around once), and Jupiter

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Province of Laguna

makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Jovian time) in about 12 Earth
years (4,333 Earth days)

Jupiter’s Interior and Structure

Jupiter’s interior Is liquid, It’s central temperatures lie around 13,000 to 35,000
degrees Celsius range, and Jupiter’s central pressure is about 100 million earth
atmosphere. Jupiter’s structure consists of Atmosphere, Outer Interior, interior, and
Core. Its

Atmosphere have Hydrogen, Helium, Methane, Water, and Ammonia. And liquid:
water droplets. It has a solid ammonia ice particles, and about 0-1000 Earth
atmosphere pressure, ranging its temperature from -150 to +1000C

Jupiter’s Outer Interior

Jupiter’s Outer interior consists of Hydrogen, and Helium, small amounts of

methane, water, and ammonia. Its pressure ranging 1000-2000,000 Earth
atmosphere pressure, and it’s temperature from 1000 to 8000 C

Jupiter’s Interior

Jupiter’s Interior has Liquid metallic Hydrogen, with Helium and small amounts of
Methane, Water, and Ammonia It’s pressure raging from 2000,000 to 45,000,000
Earth atmospheres pressure. While its temperature lies between 8000 to 16,000 C

Jupiter’s Core

Based on NASA’s Juno Spacecraft, it found a data suggesting that the core of Jupiter
is much larger then expected and its not solid. Instead, it was partially dissolved with
no clear separation from the metallic hydrogen around it. Leading the reaserchers to
describe Jupiter’s core as dilute or “Fuzzy”

Jupiter’s Magnetosphere / Magnetic Field

Jupiter's magnetosphere is the largest object in the solar system. If it glowed in

wavelengths visible to the eye, it would appear two to three times the size of the Sun

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Province of Laguna

or Moon to viewers on Earth. Jupiter’s has the strongest magnetic field, about
4.170G making Jupiter’s magnetic field stronger than Earth’s. Jupiter’s magnetic field
is dipolar, it has a north and south pole.

The Great Red Spot in Jupiter

The great red spot In Jupiter has been raging on for at least 400 years, located in
Jupiter’s Southern Hemisphere. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a giant, long-lasting,
high-pressure storm in Jupiter's atmosphere that's the largest in our solar system.
The size of it is so big that three Earth can fit inside. Its wind can reach up to 400
miles per hour

Jupiter’s Rings

Jupiter’s ring was discovered on 1979 by the passing Voyager spacecraft, but its
origin was a mystery. The data from the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from
1995 to 2003 confirmed thar these rings were created by meteoroid impacts on small
nearby moons. Remember that the halo ring is neutral or blue, while the main and
gossamer rings have a reddish hue.

Jupiter’s Moon

Jupiter's moons form a satellite system called the Jovian system. The most massive
of the moons are the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

The Moon IO

The moon IO was the first moon discovered orbiting a planet other than Earth. The
moon IO was discovered on January 8th 1610 by Galileo Galilei. Galileo originally
called Jupiter's moons the Medicean planets, after the powerful Italian Medici family,
and referred to the individual moons numerically as I, II, III, and IV. Galileo's naming
system would be used for a couple of centuries.

It wouldn't be until the mid-1800s that the names of the Galilean moons, Io, Europa,
Ganymede, and Callisto, would be officially adopted, and only after it became

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Province of Laguna

apparent that naming moons by number would be very confusing as new additional
moons were being discovered. Potential for Life in IO is impossible, its constant
volcanism and intense radiation make Io an unlikely destination for life.

Size and Distance of the moon IO is a bit larger than Earth's Moon, Io is the third
largest of Jupiter's moons, and the fifth one in distance from the planet.

Orbit and Rotation in the Moon IO, It always points the same side toward Jupiter in
its orbit around the giant planet, the large moons Europa and Ganymede perturb Io's
orbit into an irregularly elliptical one. Thus, in its widely varying distances from
Jupiter, Io is subjected to tremendous tidal forces.

The Moon Europa

The moon Europa is the most important discoveries made by Galileo, It showed how
Jupiter’s magnetic field was disrupted by the space around Europa. This
measurement strongly implied that a special magnetic field is being created
(induced) within Europa

by a deep layer of some electrically conductive fluid beneath the surface. Based on
Europa's icy composition, scientists think the most likely material to create this
magnetic signature is a global ocean of salty water.

Scientists think Europa’s ice shell is 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 kilometers) thick,

floating on an ocean 40 to 100 miles (60 to 150 kilometers) deep. So while Europa is
only one-fourth the diameter of Earth, its ocean may contain twice as much water as
Earth’s global ocean. Europa’s ocean is considered one of the most promising
places in the solar system to look for life beyond Earth.

Namesake of the planet Europa, Europa is named for a woman in the Greek
Mythology, was abducted by the God Zeus or Jupiter in the Roman Mythology.

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Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna

The potential for life in the moon Europa is still not sure up until this day, although
the moon Europa seems to have the three main requirements: liquid water, certain
chemical elements, and energy source. Europa’s ocean may have existed for the
entirety of our solar system’s history, approximately 4 billion years so sufficient time
has passed for life to develop.

The Moon Ganymede

When Jupiter’s magnetic field changes, the auroras on Ganymede also change,
“rocking” back and forth. It was by watching the rocking motion of the two
auroras, that a team of scientists led by Joachim Saur of the University of
Cologne in Germany came up with the idea of using the Hubble space telescope
to learn more about the inside of the moon.

NASA’s Juno mission has observed mineral salts and organic compounds on the
surface of Ganymede. Data for this discovery was collected by the Jovian
InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) spectrometer aboard the spacecraft during a
close flyby of the icy moon on June 7, 2021. The findings, which could help
scientists better understand the origin of Ganymede and the composition of its
deep ocean, were published on Oct. 30, 2023, in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Ganymede was discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei on Jan. 7, 1610.
The discovery, along with his discovery of three other large moons around
Jupiter, was the first time a moon was discovered orbiting a planet other than
Earth. The discovery eventually led to the understanding that planets in our
solar system orbit the Sun, instead of our solar system revolving around Earth.
(Jupiter now has 53 named moons and 26 provisional moons awaiting
confirmation of discovery).

In mythology, Ganymede ("GAN uh meed") was a beautiful young boy who was
carried to Olympus by Zeus (the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter)
disguised as an eagle. Ganymede became the cupbearer of the Olympian gods.

The potential for life in Ganymede was possible in the computer model of
Ganymede’s The model indicated the icy moon’s rocky sea bottom might be in
contact with salt water. Scientists think water and rock interaction are key to

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the development of life. The Size and Distance of Ganymede has a radius of
1,635 miles (2,631 kilometers) and is the largest moon in our solar system. It’s
bigger than Mercury and Pluto. Ganymede is about 665,000 miles (1.07 million
kilometers) from Jupiter, which orbits about 484 million miles (778 million kilometers)
from the Sun. Jupiter is 5.2 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical
unit (abbreviated as AU) is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it
takes sunlight 43 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Jovian system, The orbit and
Rotation of Ganymede orbits Jupiter at a distance of 665,000 miles or (1,070,000
kilometers), making it third in distance from Jupiter among the Galilean satellites:

The Moon Callisto

Callisto is Jupiter’s second largest moon and the third largest moon in our solar
system. Its surface is the most heavily cratered of any object in our solar system.
Images of Callisto captured by passing spacecraft show bright white spots standing
out against darker regions. It Once thought to be a dead, inactive rocky body, data
gathered by the Galileo spacecraft in the 1990s indicate Callisto may have a salty
ocean beneath its icy surface. More recent research reveals that this ocean may be
located deeper beneath the surface than previously thought, or may not exist at all.
If an ocean is present, it’s possible the ocean is interacting with rock on Callisto,
creating a potential habitat for life

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