The most interesting facts about Jupiter

Interesting facts about Jupiter are most like a list of records. The gas giant in many respects outruns the rest of the planets of the solar system, thereby fully justifying its proud name of the god of thunder.

Fifth from the Sun

To expound interesting facts about the planet Jupiter we will begin with information about the location of the giant in our piece of the galaxy. This is really worthy of attention. Jupiter takes the fifth place in terms of distance from the Sun. The planet separates from the star 5.2 light years. The neighbors of the giant are Saturn and the main belt of asteroids, with which Jupiter can be said to be in close relationships. The gas giant constantly influences the bodies located in this area, regulating the changes in their orbits.

Really huge

The ability to interfere with the activity of asteroids is due to the incredibly large mass of Jupiter. The Earth is ahead of this parameter 318 times. However, the most interesting in this respect about Jupiter is that by mass it exceeds all the planets of the solar system, taken together, 2.5 times. Such dimensions in the rating of space objects put it on a step, just barely reaching the level of the stars. According to scientists, if Jupiter is massive 60 times more, it could become a night luminary as a result of a spontaneous thermonuclear reaction.

Structure

Interesting facts about Jupiter can not be imagined without mentioning the features of its composition. The planet belongs to a group of gas giants and actually does not have a surface. There are no exact data on the internal structure of Jupiter today, but the information already obtained from observations from the Earth and the studies of space vehicles allowed astrophysicists to formulate a hypothesis on this matter. In accordance with it, a very dense nucleus is placed in the center of the giant, compressed at colossal pressure of 30-100 million atmospheres. In size, it is about 1.5 times the size of the Earth.

The core is supposedly composed of rocky structures, helium and metallic hydrogen. In such an unusual state, the most common substance of the universe passes under the influence of high pressure and high temperatures. At a depth of one hundred kilometers, hydrogen, somewhat less exposed to these factors, exists in a liquid state and forms an entire ocean.

Atmosphere

Very many interesting facts about the planet Jupiter are associated with the air envelope surrounding it, or, more accurately, the essence of the giant. The main substance in the atmosphere is hydrogen (89%), followed by a concentration of helium - 11%. Minerals, ammonia, water vapor and acetylene are also found here in small quantities.

In the photo Jupiter can not be confused with anything because of the characteristic pattern of the atmosphere. Clouds, painted in yellow, red, blue and white, line up along the equator of the gas giant. Winds blowing on the planet with an average speed of 500 km / h, contribute to the formation of the Northern and Southern equatorial belts, for the observer looking like brown bands with swirls.

One of these formations, called the Great Red Spot, has become practically the visiting card of the planet. Interesting facts about Jupiter, identified by scientists, contain information that it was discovered about 350 years ago and since then has practically changed neither its location nor its size. According to the researchers, the Great red spot is a hurricane in the atmosphere of the planet, rotating at a speed of 300 km / h. Its dimensions are astonishing: 12x48 thousand kilometers.

Weather

Interesting facts about Jupiter can also be supplemented by information about the numerous storms characteristic of the planet. Some of them last for a few days, while others are raging for months. Almost always, storms are accompanied by lightning, which in their power exceeds the terrestrial at least a thousand times. At the same time on Jupiter there is no change of seasons due to the location of the equator in the ecliptic plane.

A magnetic field

The most interesting facts about Jupiter are inexplicable and mysterious. For example, the magnetic field of the planet is 14 times larger than the earth's surface and even reaches the orbit of Saturn, extending to 650 million kilometers. At the same time, the field surrounds the planet unevenly: in the direction opposite to the Sun, it stretches forty times farther.

It is believed that the source of such a strong magnetic field, capable of damaging any apparatus that has approached too closely, is the hypothetical metallic hydrogen of the nucleus, the structural features of which allow the substance to conduct electricity. However, for the time being this information remains only a hypothesis.

Satellites

The striking facts about the planet Jupiter do not end there. The gas giant is ahead of all the planets in the solar system and in terms of the number of satellites. To date, 63 of them are known. At the same time, their impressive part is relatively small objects with a diameter of about ten kilometers.

The largest satellite of Jupiter, Ganymede, is larger in size than Mercury. It is covered with a thick ice cap, under which supposedly there may be water.

Another major satellite of Jupiter, Io, is interesting because active volcanoes are located on its surface.

Large enough in comparison with most objects from the "suite" of Jupiter, Europe is also presumably covered with ice and hides the ocean on its surface.

The fourth companion of the most impressive is Calisto. It is considered the oldest in the solar system.

Jupiter, therefore, is by no means an ordinary planet in our piece of the galaxy. This is noticeable even when looking at the night sky: the giant is the third brightest object after the Moon and Venus, it is even easier to detect it than Sirius.

The listed facts are not a complete list of Jupiter's features. Moreover, the studies of the gas giant, as well as the rest of the planets of the Solar System, continue, which means that the list of interesting information presented in the near future may be supplemented by an even larger number of items.