How Does Jupiter Work?

So today let's talk about Jupiter. The fifth planet from our Sun, has an equatorial diameter of about eighty nine thousand miles or one hundred and forty three thousand kilometers. Were Jupiter a hollow shell, you could fit more than one thousand, three hundred earths inside of it. For its huge size, its mass is only around three hundred and eighteen times that of Earth, but that's still two and a half times as massive as all all of the other planets in our Solar system combined. Still, next to

the Sun, Jupiter looks puny. Our star accounts for ninety nine point eight percent of all of the mass in our Solar system, Jupiter included. Nevertheless, Jupiter is large enough to affect the Sun in ways that Earth never could. Jupiter doesn't orbit the Sun's center like all of the other planets. Instead, Jupiter orbits a spot in empty space just outside of the Sun's surface. Oh why, Okay, technically everything in the Solar System does exert gravity on everything else.

The term for the center of mass between any two or more bodies is their Berry center. And now every other planet is so much less massive than the Sun that we barely tug on it. Our berry center with the Sun is within the Sun. But Jupiter is so big that it affects how the Sun moves too, so it's Berry center with the Sun is a little outside of the Sun. Jupiter's gargantuine bulk gives the Sun a

slight but noticeable wobble. This is good to know, because if scientists ever detect that kind of wobble in a far off star, it could mean that a Jupiter sized planet is in its orbit. But size isn't the only thing setting Earth and Jupiter apart. Compositionally, our planets are totally different. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are all terrestrial or rocky planets, a meaning that they have hard, rocky

surfaces with a relatively thin gaseous atmosphere. Underneath the surface, layers of liquid and solid rock and metals make up their cores. Jupiter is a gas giant, which means lacks a solid surface and has an overwhelmingly thick gaseous atmosphere. For its part, Jupiter's two main ingredients are hydrogen and helium, though smaller quantities of metaane, ammonia, and water have also

been detected. Since it doesn't have a hard crust, scientists define Jupiter's surface as the outer layer at which its atmospheric pressure equals that of Earth. Far below this external area, there's a layer dominated by molecular hydrogen. Beneath that you'll find a level whose primary component is liquid metallic hydrogen, a material reminiscent of the liquid mercury we find on Earth. The core at Jupiter's very center has inspired a lot

of debate. Some astronomers have argued that there's no solid core at all, that Jupiter formed from gas and dust alone, or that any core once had eroded slowly over millions and billions of years. A data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft tells us that there probably is a core, but we still don't know what it's made of. Our best guesses are rock and ice, as it seems less dense,

and Earth's iron and nickel based in our core. The Juno mission, which entered Jupiter's orbit on July fourth of twenty sixteen, was the first to get below the planet's clouds and send back detailed information about Jupiter's atmosphere and its moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, plus more data on how our Solar system formed. But let's talk more about

Jupiter's so called surface. The planet has stripes or bands of color running around it from top to bottom, in shades of white to gray to reddish brown, each swirling with storms. Amazingly, neighboring bands of swirls move in opposite directions. Astronomers call the darker ones belts, while their lighter counterparts have been dubbed zones. Jupiter's stripes and swirls are windy clouds of ammonia and water floating in that gaseous atmosphere

of hydrogen and helium. Variations in chemistry, trans its, parency, shape, and or temperature might explain the color differences. Tempests riddle the gas giant a far south of Jupiter's equator, there's a series of oval shaped storms that rotate counterclockwise, being whitish in coloration, and set off because they're moving through darker bands. These are nicknamed the String of Pearls. Since nineteen eighty six, the number of Pearl storms has varied

from six to nine. Even better known is the Great Red Spot, closer to the equator than the Pearls, a giant storm with a crimson tint. It's made up of winds that whirl at a rate of some two hundred and seventy miles an hour that's four hundred and thirty kilometers an hour. Although researchers think that the giant storm may be shrinking, its current dimensions are still highly impressive.

At over ten thousand miles wide, that's more than sixty thousand kilometers, the Great Red Spot is large enough to envelope our entire planet. It's caught between two powerful jet streams, one to the east and one to the west, that keep it more or less in place. Astronomers have been keeping a constant eye on the storm since eighteen thirty. Therefore, we know that at minimum, it's more than one hundred

and ninety earth years old. Its longevity may have something to do with Jupiter's rotational orbit, that is, the length of its days. Here on Earth, we complete a new spin around Earth's axis once every twenty four hours, no matter where on the planet we reside. But since Jupiter is largely gaseous, some of its latitudinal regions rotate faster than others do. At Jupiter's poles, a day lasts for nine hours and fifty six minutes. Meanwhile, places near Jupiter's

equator see brisk nine hour fifty minute days. Jupiter has the shortest days of all the planet in this solar system. Of course, Jupiter's infamous storms aren't its only feature. It also boasts rings and a plethora of moons. Yep Like Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, Jupiter also has rings, albeit less dramatic ones. NASA's Voyager one spacecraft discovered Jupiter's rings in nineteen seventy nine. They're so faint that they're practically invisible from Earth's surface.

The most visible one is bright and thin, only about twenty miles thick in some places that's about thirty kilometers. One inside and two outside of it are thicker and much less defined. Data sent back by the Galileo spacecraft show that they might have formed when dust from interplanetary meteoroids smashed into Jupiter's moons, which the planet has. As we said, a lot of No less than ninety five known moons are currently orbiting this gas giant. Jupiter's four

large moons were the first moons discovered beyond Earth. These are the four Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Ganymede is the biggest. It's actually the biggest moon in the Solar System and is larger than the planet Mercury, a fitting jewel in the crown of this planetary giant. But these moons aren't just beautiful. They may help us learn about the possibility of sustaining life beyond our own

little blue planet. In particular, Europa may be geologically active under its crust, and it seems to even contain an ocean of liquid water under its frozen surface, meaning it's possible that there are places on Europa that could support

life as we know it. NASA researchers are launching a spacecraft called Europa Clipper on October tenth of twenty twenty four to conduct dozens of flybys of the Moon and help us learn more about its icy shell, the ocean underneath, and its geology and inner makeup to follow along with its cherney, which will take several years. Because space is big.

You can go to Europa dot NASA dot gov. Today's episode is based on the article Jupiter, Anatomy of a gas Giant on HowStuffWorks dot com, written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.