Back to Home

Jupiter Gallery

Rings of Jupiter

Medicea Sidera

Moons of Jupiter:

Jupiter Jupiter

Jupiter with IoThis is the biggest planet in our Solar system and the fourth brightest object in our sky. It has been known since prehistoric times. Galileo's discovery, in 1610, of Jupiter's four large moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (now known as the Galilean Moons) was the first discovery of a center of motion not apparently centered on the Earth. It was a major point in favor of Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the motions of the planets. Galileo's outspoken support of the Copernican theory got him in trouble with the Inquisition.

Distance from Sun:
Mean: 5.203 AU
Perihelion: 740,900,000 km
Ahelion: 815,700,000 km
Size:
Volume: 1.6016x1010 km3
Diameter: 142,800 km
Mass: 1.9 x 1027 kg
Motion:
Year: 11.86 E Years
Day: 0.4 E Days
Other:
Density: 1,314 kg per m3
Surface Temperature: -153°C or 120°K

Jupiter Red Spot

Jupiter is a big boy.

Jupiter - Cassini Clouds Time Lapse AnimationJupiter is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium (by numbers of atoms, 75/25% by mass) with traces of methane, water, ammonia and "rock". This is very close to the composition of the primordial Solar Nebula from which the entire solar system was formed. It also has upwards of 60 moons, see some of them here.

The Great Red Spot (GRS) has been seen by Earthly observers for more than 300 years (its discovery is usually attributed to Cassini, or Robert Hooke in the 17th century). The GRS is an oval about 12,000 by 25,000km, big enough to hold two Earths. Other smaller but similar spots have been known for decades.

Back to Home

Advertisement: