Failed Star
Jupiter is the fifth planet from our Sun and, by far, the largest planet in the Solar System – more than twice the size of all the other planets combined. Jupiter's streaks and swirls are actually cold, dense clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot is a giant storm larger than Earth that has been raging for hundreds of years. Jupiter is surrounded by dozens of moons. Jupiter also has many colors, but unlike the famous colors of Saturn, Jupiter's colors are very faint and made of dust rather than ice.
Jupiter's atmosphere is probably not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are likely too high and unstable to be suitable for life. Although the planet Jupiter is an unlikely place for life, the same is not true for some of its many moons. Europa is one of the most likely places to find life elsewhere in our solar system. There is evidence of a vast ocean just below its icy crust, where life could potentially be supported.
With a radius of 43,440.7 miles (69,911 km), Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Jupiter would be as big as a basketball. At an average distance of 484 million miles (778 million km), Jupiter is 5.2 AU from the Sun. An astronomical unit (abbreviated AU) is the distance from the Sun to the Earth. At this distance, sunlight takes 43 minutes to travel from the Sun to Jupiter. Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. A day on Jupiter is about 10 hours long (the time it takes for Jupiter to spin or rotate once), and Jupiter makes a complete orbit around the Sun in about 12 Earth years (4,333 Earth days). . Its equator is tilted by only 3 degrees with respect to its orbital path around the Sun. This means that Jupiter rotates almost vertically and does not have as many seasons as other planets.
With four large moons and many smaller moons, Jupiter forms a kind of miniature solar system. Jupiter has 80 moons. 57 moons have been given official names by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). 23 more moon names are awaited. Jupiter's four largest moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto – were first observed in 1610 by astronomer Galileo Galilei using an early version of a telescope. These four moons are known today as the Galilean satellites, and are among the most fascinating places in our solar system. Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System (even larger than the planet Mercury). Callisto's very few small craters indicate a small degree of current surface activity. An ocean of liquid water with the components of life could lie beneath Europa's frozen crust, making it an attractive place to explore.
In 1979, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft discovered Jupiter's rings, which were surprising, as they are composed of small, dark particles and are difficult to see except when backlit by the Sun. Data from the Galileo spacecraft suggests that Jupiter's ring system may have been formed by dust as interplanetary meteoroids collide with the giant planet's small inner moons. Jupiter formed when the rest of the Solar System formed about 4.5 billion years ago when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust to form this gas giant. Jupiter took most of the mass left over from the formation of the Sun, ending up with twice as much mass as the other bodies in the Solar System combined. In fact, Jupiter has the same components as a star, but it hasn't grown massive enough to ignite. About 4 billion years ago, Jupiter settled into its current position in the outer solar system, where it is the fifth planet from the Sun.
Jupiter's composition is similar to that of the Sun - mostly hydrogen and helium. Increasing depth, pressure and temperature in the atmosphere compresses hydrogen gas into liquid. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the Solar System – an ocean made of hydrogen rather than water. Scientists believe that, deep down perhaps halfway to the planet's core, the pressure becomes so great that electrons are squeezed out of the hydrogen atoms, making the liquid electrically conductive like metal. Jupiter's rapid rotation is thought to drive electric currents in this region, creating the planet's powerful magnetic field. It is not yet clear whether deep down, Jupiter has a core of solid material or whether it may be a thick, super-hot and dense soup. It can be as low as 90,032 degrees Fahrenheit (50,000 degrees Celsius) down there, composed mostly of iron and silicate minerals (like quartz).
Jupiter's appearance is a tapestry of colorful cloud bands and spots. The gas planet's "sky" consists of three distinct layers of clouds that together extend about 44 miles (71 km). The upper cloud is probably made of ammonia ice, while the middle layer is probably made of ammonium hydrosulfide crystals. The innermost layer may be composed of water ice and water vapor. The vivid colors you see in Jupiter's thick bands may be plumes of gases containing sulfur and phosphorus rising from the planet's hot interior. Jupiter's rapid rotation - turning once every 10 hours - creates strong jet streams, which separate its clouds into dark bands and long stretches of bright areas. Because there is no solid surface to slow them down, Jupiter's spots can persist for many years. Stormy Jupiter is buffeted by more than a dozen winds, some of which reach 335 mph (539 km/h) at the equator. The Great Red Spot, a swirling oval of clouds twice as wide as Earth, has been observed on the giant planet for more than 300 years. More recently, three tiny ovules combined to form the Little Red Spot, which is half the size of its larger cousin. Results from NASA's Juno probe, due to be released in October 2021, provide a complete picture of what's happening beneath these clouds. Juno's data show that Jupiter's storms are warmer aloft, with lower air density, while they are cooler downward, with higher air density. Anticyclones, which rotate in the opposite direction, are cooler at the top but warmer at the bottom.
Difference between star and planet!!
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