Jupiter

Astronomy 311Professor Lee

CarknerLecture 17

Jupiter -- King of the Gods

Jupiter is also “King of the Planets” due to its size

Viewing Jupiter from Earth

Is very bright from Earth In opposition every 13 months

Can clearly see cloud patterns, Great Red Spot and 4 largest moons even with small telescope

Jupiter Facts

Size: Orbit: 5.2 AU Description: large, gaseous, many

large satellites

Viewing Jupiter from Space

Currently observed by Hubble Space Telescope

The Galileo spacecraft ended its mission in 2003

Dropped a probe through the atmosphere

Galileo’s Atmosphere Probe

Galileo Atmosphere Probe

Launched from the Galileo spacecraft on Dec 7, 1995

Lasted for 1 hour and got down to 130 km below the tops of the clouds before the high temperature and pressure killed the electronics

Shoemaker-Levy 9

Passed too close to Jupiter and was

torn apart by tidal forces

Each piece created a huge fireball Spectra of impacts reveals composition

of deeper layers of atmosphere

Convection

Produced by convection Hot material rises and cooler material sinks

Jupiter has the most prominent clouds and belts of any planet Because it has the most internal energy

Belts in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Jupiter’s Rotation

Jupiter has a rotation period of about 10 hours

This rapid rotation shapes the belts and zones into oppositely circulating bands

equator rotates faster than the poles

this is because Jupiter is not a solid body

Structure of Jupiter’s Atmosphere Infrared, radio and Galileo probe observations reveal 3

cloud layers Ammonium hydrosulfide (NH4SH)

The color of the layers depends on depth Brown -- White -- middle layer Red --

Not all layers are found in all regions Galileo found no water

Cloud Formation

Will only happen at a specific combination of temperature and pressure

Clouds only form in one spot in the atmosphere Above and below, compound is all liquid or all

gas

Structure of Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Spots and Ovals

They are rapidly rotating cloud features (storms) Some are very long lived

Some spots are white or brown

Brown ovals may be holes to the deeper, hotter, inner atmosphere

Interlude Gravity

Every object in the solar system pulls on every other due to gravity

This can cause perturbations in orbits

We can use a modified version of this equation which shows the relative force a planet exerts: F=M/D2

Jupiter’s Interior

Small core of rock and ice (about the size of the Earth)

Liquid metallic hydrogen outer core (40-50,000 km thick)

Hydrogen gas layer 10-20,000 km thick

The Interior of Jupiter

Rings

Jupiter’s rings were discovered by Voyager

May be formed from material chipped off of 4 small inner moons by impacts

Diagram of Jupiter’s Rings and Inner Moons

Jupiter’s Moons

Jupiter has a planetary system of its own

Jupiter has 4 of the 7 large moons of the solar system

Jupiter’s Magnetosphere

Jupiter’s Magnetosphere

The magnetic field forms a magnetosphere about 200 times larger than Jupiter itself

Also contains: a hot, thin, rapidly changing plasma

rapidly moving changed particles

Next Time

Chapter 12.1-12.4

Summary

Jupiter is the largest planet Its strong gravity influence the

motions of the rest of the solar system

Rotates rapidly and differentially Explored by Voyager, HST, Galileo,

and a comet impact

Summary: Atmosphere Explored by telescopes, Galileo probe and comet

impact Clouds are composed of ammonia, water and

sulfur compounds Clouds form bands of material moving in opposite

directions Spots and ovals are storms which can occur at

different altitudes and can be long lived Heat from Jupiter’s interior and rotation drives

motions

Summary: Jupiter From the Outside In

Satellites: out to ~24 million km Magnetosphere: out to ~15 million

km Rings: out to ~200,000 km Atmosphere: out to ~70,000 km Liquid metallic hydrogen: out to

~50,000 km Rock/Ice core: out to ~20,000 km