October 9, 2024 • 9 mins
The largest planet in our solar system has the shortest days, at least 95 moons, a few faint rings, and mysteries to boot. Learn more about Jupiter in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/46003-jupiter-explained.htm
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here,
the planet Jupiter has superlatives despair. We'd expect nothing less
from a giant planet named after a mythic king of
the gods. Not only is Jupiter the largest planet in
(00:22):
our Solar system, but it also spins at the fastest rate.
This massive planet is a world where the days may
be short, but giant storms can rage on for centuries.
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.
(00:45):
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
(01:05):
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
(01:27):
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
(01:48):
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
(02:10):
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
(02:30):
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.
(02:53):
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,
(03:16):
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
(03:37):
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,
(04:00):
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
(04:20):
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.
(04:42):
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
(05:07):
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
(05:32):
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.
(05:54):
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,
(06:16):
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
(06:38):
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.
(07:00):
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.
(07:21):
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
(07:41):
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
(08:03):
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
(08:26):
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
(08:49):
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
(09:12):
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.
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here,
the planet Jupiter has superlatives despair. We'd expect nothing less
from a giant planet named after a mythic king of
the gods. Not only is Jupiter the largest planet in
(00:22):
our Solar system, but it also spins at the fastest rate.
This massive planet is a world where the days may
be short, but giant storms can rage on for centuries.
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.
(00:45):
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
(01:05):
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
(01:27):
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
(01:48):
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
(02:10):
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
(02:30):
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.
(02:53):
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,
(03:16):
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
(03:37):
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,
(04:00):
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
(04:20):
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.
(04:42):
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
(05:07):
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
(05:32):
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.
(05:54):
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,
(06:16):
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
(06:38):
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.
(07:00):
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.
(07:21):
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
(07:41):
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
(08:03):
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
(08:26):
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
(08:49):
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
(09:12):
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.
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