1. Jupiter
Astronomy 311
Professor Lee Carkner
Lecture 17

2. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is best described as,
An impact feature
An eruption of water ice
A hurricane-like storm
A large cloud that absorbs red light
The shadow of the moon Io

3. Which best describes the surface of the typical gas giant moon?
Rocky
Covered with volcanoes
Enveloped by a thick atmosphere
Smooth with few craters
Icy

4. The atmospheres of the gas giants are made of,
Helium with hydrogen clouds
Hydrogen with clouds made of volatiles
Carbon dioxide
Oxygen and water vapor
Unknown chemicals

5. The rings of the gas giants are made of,
Very small dust grains
Very bright icy grains
Pieces of a moon that exploded
Either small dark or large bright particles
Small moons, about 1 km in size

6. Jupiter -- King of the Gods
Jupiter is also “King of the Planets” due to its size

7. 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

8. Jupiter Facts Size: Orbit: 5.2 AU
Description: large, gaseous, many large satellites

9. Viewing Jupiter from Space
Currently observed by Hubble Space Telescope
The Galileo spacecraft ended its mission in 2003
Dropped a probe through the atmosphere

10. Galileo’s Atmosphere Probe

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Belts in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

15. 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

16. 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

17. Structure of Jupiter’s Atmosphere

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. The Interior of Jupiter

22. Rings Jupiter’s rings were discovered by Voyager
May be formed from material chipped off of 4 small inner moons by impacts

23. Diagram of Jupiter’s Rings and Inner Moons

24. Jupiter’s Moons Jupiter has a planetary system of its own
Jupiter has 4 of the 7 large moons of the solar system

25. Jupiter’s Magnetosphere

26. 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

27. Next Time
Chapter

28. 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

29. Summary: Atmosphere
Explored by telescopes, Galileo probe and comet impact
Clouds are composed of ammonia 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

30. 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