ISALC: Earth Science, Level 200

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The Planet Jupiter by Aziz Alberaithen

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Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, and the closest gaseous planet to the sun. I decided to write about it because I think Jupiter has many interesting features and I wanted to know more about it.

Jupiter is the first of the five Outer Planets from the sun. It is between Mars as the last of the Inner Planets and Saturn as the second of the Outer Planets. Jupiter's distance from the sun is about 774 million kilometers or 470 million miles.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. For instance, if the other planets in our solar system were placed inside Jupiter that would still leave more than half of Jupiter empty. Jupiter's diameter is 143,000 kilometers or 88,700 miles. Jupiter has been well-know for many years; therefore, it is no wonder that it was named after the Roman's primary religious god. Moreover, lots of the moons were named for daughters of the Roman god Jupiter. Jupiter is made of mostly gas with a liquid center of hydrogen. Nevertheless, most scientists think Jupiter might have a solid core because its atmosphere is hydrogen.

To see Jupiter you don't need a telescope. It is the third brightest object that is in the night sky, after the moon and Venus. There are two times to see Jupiter more clearly, in the early morning and in the evening. If Jupiter is visible you can probably see its color as a white light. However, to see Jupiter's moons probably you will need a telescope.

The surface of Jupiter is very strange because it is made up mostly of gases, and is not solid on its surface. However, the very important thing to notice on Jupiter's surface is the Gread Red Spot. The Italian astronomer Galileo was the first one who saw the Great Red Spot in 1665.

Jupiter is completely different from our planet "Earth." First, Jupiter has sixteen moons, and Earth has just one moon. Second, Jupiter has a ring system that was discovered by NASA in 1980 and Earth doesn't. Third, Jupiter is made up of gases and liquids, and Earth is a solid. Fourth, Jupiter is very cold, and Earth has moderate temperatures and a lot of water. Fifth, because Jupiter is farther from the sun, Jupiter takes 11.86 Earth years to revolve around the sun, but Earth takes just one year (365 days). Sixth, Jupiter rotates very fast. It takes 9.8 hours to rotate on its axis, whereas Earth takes 24 hours to rotate on its axis (one day). Seventh, because Jupiter is bigger than Earth, the gravity on Jupiter is about 254 times the gravity on Earth. Eighth, because the mass of Jupiter is so large 1.9x10.27 kg. which equals about 318 times the mass of Earth, a 200-pound person will weigh 508 pound on Jupiter. Finally, Earth is the only planet that has life.

As far as I'm concerned, Jupiter has many interesting things. For example, Jupiter has at least sixteen moons and more may be discovered. The largest one is Ganymede; it is bigger than Pluto or Mercury. Ganymede is made of rocky ice. Io is one of the large moons. Its picture looks like pizza: orange, yellow and red. Io is the only moon that we know which has active volcanoes like Earth. Its volcanoes constantly erupt spewing out hot ash, gases and molten lava onto its surface which makes the moon different colors. Another large moon of Jupiter is Europa. Europa is an icy giant ball with a smooth surface. Some astronomer's think Europa is made of a rocky material covered with ice. The last large moon is Callisto. Callisto is larger than our moon. It is an icy moon covered with thousands of craters, which are the consequence of collisions with other objects in space. These moons are the four biggest satellites of Jupiter. They were discovered by Gallileo. Jupiter also has at least twelve smaller moons; Leda is the smallest one with a diameter of about twenty kilometers.

Jupiter has many unique features, which is why I decided to report about it. For example, Jupiter receives some heat from the sun, but it reflects more heat. This strange process makes astronomers think Jupiter probably has a heat source of its own. Finally, I would like to visit Jupiter by spacecraft as NASA's Pioneer 10 did in 1973.

1- http://www.dustbunny.com/afk/planets/planets.htm

2- http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/index.shtml

3- http://www.germantown.k12.il.us/html/solsysa.html

4- Robert H. Marshall & Allen Rosskof. (2001) Earth Science, AGS.