JUPITER THE LARGEST PLANET
BASIC FACTS
Across the asteroid belt is the planet
Jupiter that is the largest of all the planets. It has a diameter measuring 142,800 kilometers more than 11 times that of the earth. In terms of order, Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It is about 629 million kilometers from our earth.
Jupiter has its axis almost perpendicular with a nominal tilt of only 3°. It is a very fast spinning planet. It completes its one round of rotation in only 9 hours and 55 minutes. Its orbit is egg-shaped (oval) and it goes once round the sun in about 4333 earth-days (about 12 earth-years).
SPECIAL FEATURES
Jupiter is surrounded by layers of dense clouds made up of frozen crystals of two gases ammonia and methane. It is believed to be mostly gaseous and nominally liquid. When seen through a telescope, Jupiter appears with a series of belts of dark lines across its surface parallel to its equator. These belts keep changing their positions and the zones between them are light colored. A large oval mark-Great Red Spot-can also be seen on its surface.
Jupiter's atmosphere consists of 84% hydrogen, 15% helium and 1 % other gases. It’s core is believed to have an iron-bearing solid rock about the size of our earth.
The top of Jupiter's clouds has an average temperature of 149.°C. Beneath them, it rises higher and higher to reach about 2900°C. But the surface temperature has not been determined so far. Its central core may be about 24000°C hot. It has a faint ring around it which was discovered in 1979 by Voyager I.
Jupiter has 16 known moons; four of them being very large while the others very small. These four moons are Europa, Io, Callisto and Ganymede. The four Iarge moons of Jupiter were discovered by Galileo in 1610 A.D. So, they are known as Galilean Moons too. The very fast rotation of this planet leads to very high winds on it.
IN MYTHOLOGY
Romans considered Jupiter to be the king of gods.
