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Below are
ten facts about Jupiter and its moons and a table of statistics
FACT ONE
Jupiter has a liquid metal ocean (metallic hydrogen) at its centre, surrounded by thousands of kilometres of hydrogen and
helium gas.
FACT TWO
Jupiter's famous Red Spot is in fact a storm the size of
Earth
that has raged for hundreds of years.
FACT
THREE
Jupiter has a thin set of rings, hardly visible, even with telescopes, from Earth.
FACT FOUR
Jupiter is the vacuum cleaner of the Solar System. It sucks in comets, asteroids and meteorites which could be on a
collision course for Earth. The comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, was pulled apart by
Jupiter's gravity and eventually collided with the planet in
1994.
FACT FIVE
Jupiter takes only 9 hours and 55 minutes to spin on its axis.
This means a day on Jupiter is less than 10 hours long. Its fast
rotation causes the planet to be squashed, being wider at the
equator than from North to South.
FACT SIX
Jupiter is the planet with the strongest pull of gravity in the Solar
System. If
we were able to stand on the surface of Jupiter, we would weigh
three times as much as we would weigh on Earth. The only other object in
the Solar System with a stronger pull
of gravity
is the Sun.
FACT
SEVEN
The mass of Jupiter is 318 greater than the mass of Earth.
FACT
EIGHT
Jupiter's moon, Ganymede, is the biggest moon in the Solar
System.
FACT NINE
If we were able to see Jupiter's radiation belt from Earth, Jupiter would appear as
big as the Sun.
FACT TEN
Jupiter's gravity is used to catapult space-craft
on deep
space missions further away. This is how the Voyager missions of 1975 managed
to succeed.
VIEW FACTS ABOUT OTHER
DESTINATIONS
The Sun -
Mercury -
Venus
- Earth -
The Moon -
Mars
- Jupiter -
Saturn -
Uranus
- Neptune -
Pluto and Dwarf
Planets
PLANETARY STATISTICS
| NAME |
Jupiter |
| MEANING OF
NAME |
Roman King of the gods and ruler of Olympus.
Greek equivalent is Zeus, son of Cronos (Saturn) |
| NAME
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES |
Jupiter (French, German, Latin), Júpiter
(Spanish, Portuguese), Giove (Italian), Yupiter (Russian), Zeus (Greek) |
| AVERAGE
DISTANCE FROM THE SUN |
778,412,020 km /
483,682,810 miles / 5.203 A.U.
Comparison with
Earth: 149,597,890 km / 92,955,820 miles / 1.000 A.U. |
| CLOSEST
DISTANCE TO THE SUN (PERIHELION) |
740,742,600 km /
460,276,100 miles / 4.952 A.U.
Comparison with
Earth: 147,100,000 km / 91,400,000 miles / 0.983 A.U. |
| FARTHEST
DISTANCE FROM THE SUN (APHELION) |
816,081,400 km /
507,089,500 miles / 5.455 A.U.
Comparison with
Earth: 152,100,000 km / 94,500,000 miles / 1.017 A.U. |
| DIAMETER
ACROSS EQUATOR |
142,984 km / 88,846 miles
Comparison with
Earth: 12,756 km / 7,926 miles
|
| DIAGRAM
SHOWING PLANET'S SIZE COMPARED TO THE SIZE OF EARTH |
|
| CIRCUMFERENCE
AROUND EQUATOR |
449,197 km /
279,118 miles
Comparison with
Earth: 40,074 km / 24,901 miles |
| MASS |
1,898,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
kg
Comparison with
Earth 5,973,700,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg |
| TIME TO SPIN
ON AXIS |
9 hours, 55
minutes
Comparison with
Earth: 23 hours, 56 minutes |
| TIME TO ORBIT
THE SUN (1 YEAR) |
11 years, 314 days
Comparison with
Earth: 365 days, 6 hours |
| DISTANCE
PLANET TRAVELS TO COMPLETE ONE ORBIT |
4,774,000,000 km /
2,996,000,000 miles
Comparison with
Earth: 924,375,700 km / 574,380,400 miles |
| GRAVITY (EARTH
= 1) |
2.14 |
| ESCAPE
VELOCITY |
214,300 km/h /
133,200 mph
Comparison with
Earth: 40,248 km/h / 25,009 mph |
| TEMPERATURE
AT CLOUD TOPS |
-148 °c
/ -234 °F / 125 K
Comparison with Earth's average temp: 15 °c /
59 °F / 288 K |
| WEATHER
CONDITIONS |
Cold at the tops of the clouds, temperatures
rise to 152 °c 600 km into them. Thunderstorms
are present across the planet, although are not as common as on Earth.
Wind speeds have been measured at 640 km/h, and a storm present in the
planet's Red Spot has been observed for centuries. |
| CONTENTS OF
ATMOSPHERE |
88-92%
hydrogen
(H2), 8-12% helium (He). Other gases present in
smaller quantities are 0.3% methane (me), 0.026% ammonia (NH3), 0.003%
hydrogen deuteride (HD), 0.0006% ethane (C2H6), 0.0004%
water (H2O). Ices present
include ammonia (NH3), water (H2O)and ammonium hydrosulfide (NH4SH) |
| KNOWN MOONS
(listed in order of distance from Jupiter, including year of discovery -
not all moons have yet been named) |
There
are 63 moons known to orbit Jupiter - Metis (1980), Adrastea
(1979), Amalthea (1892), Thebe (1980), Io (1610), Europa (1610),
Ganymede (1610), Callisto (1610), Themisto (1975/2000), Leda (1974),
Lysithea (1938), Elara (1905), S/2000 J 11 (2001), Carpo (2003), S/2003
J 12 (2003), Euporie (2002), S/2003 J 3 (2003), S/2003 J 18 (2003),
Thelxinoe (2004), Euanthe (2002), Helike (2003), Orthosie (2002),
Iocaste (2001), S/2003 J 16 (2003), Praxidike (2001), Harpalyke (2001),
Mneme (2003), Hermippe (2002), Thyone (2002), Ananke (1951), S/2003 J 17
(2003), Aitne (2002), Kale (2002), Taygete (2001), S/2003 J 19 (2003),
Chaldene (2001), S/2003 J 15 (2003), S/2003 J 10 (2003), S/2003 J 23
(2004), Erinome (2001), Aoede (2003), Kallichore (2003), Kalyke (2001),
Carme (1938), Callirrhoe (2000), Eurydome (2002), Pasithee (2002),
Cyllene (2003), S/2003 J 4 (2003), Pasiphaë (1908), Hegemone (2003),
Arche (2002), Isonoe (2001), S/2003 J 9 (2003), S/2003 J 5 (2003),
Sinope (1914), Sponde (2002), Autonoe (2002), Kore (2003), Megaclite
(2001), S/2003 J 2 (2003) |
| PAST MISSIONS
(including nationality and year of launch) |
Pioneer
10 (USA, 1972), Pioneer 11 (USA, 1972) |
| PRESENT
MISSIONS |
Voyager 1 (USA, 1977), Voyager 2
(USA, 1977), Galileo (USA, 1989), Ulysses (USA/Europe, 1990),
Cassini-Huygens (USA/Europe/Italy, 1997), New Horizons (USA, 2006). Note
that although these are still active missions, all apart from Ulysses
have long since past by Jupiter and are at other locations in the Solar
System. |
| PLANNED
MISSIONS |
There
are no missions currently planned to visit Jupiter |
| NOTABLE
FEATURES |
Jupiter
is the largest planet in the Solar System. The Red Spot is a storm
larger than the size of Earth. |
|
