Description:

Jupiter is the biggest and the fifth planet in our Solar System. This kind of the planets accounts for more than two thirds of all material in the Solar System than our Earth. Jupiter rotates on its own axis faster than any other planet taking 9 hours and 50 mins, at its equator and it takes about 12 years to make complete one complete one revolution around the Sun. Although the center of the planet probably contains a dense solid core, the outer layers are composed of various gases like hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane. Jupiter probably lacks a solid Earth-like surface in relation to its gaseous atmosphere. The surface temperature is about -100 degree C, because Jupiter receives only twenty fifths of the Sun's radiation which the Earth receives. The temperature in the core is possibly as high as 25,000 degree C. Jupiter's atmosphere is a churning sea of rising and sinking clouds of many colors which appear as colorful bands.

Red Spot on Jupiter:

There are conflicting theories concerning why the Great Red Spot has lasted so long and what mechanism drives it. It is similar to an anti-cyclonic storm; it stands 8 km proud of the surrounding bands of cloud. One of the chemicals dredged up is phosphine, which breaks down releasing red phosphorus. At present it seems to be shrinking but is still large enough to swallow up two to three Earths!!

The Great Red Spot is the dominant feature of the Southern hemisphere of Jupiter. This color-enhanced Voyager -1 picture clearly shows the circulating nature of the Great Red Spot and show small puffy features within the Spot itself. It rotates counterclockwise with a period of approximately six days and is currently about 26,200 km long by 13,800 km wide. Space missions Voyager and Pioneer have revealed many surprising facts about Jupiter.

                Jupiter's Moon: Ganymede                                       Jupiter's Moon: Io
                 (Source:NASA/NSSDC)                                         (Source:NASA/NSSDC)
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Jupiter: A star that failed

Jupiter emits more energy than it receives from the Sun, and it could have become another Sun but it did not. Since Jupiter though it is two and a half times as massive all the other planets combined, it still has far too little mass as compared to the Sun. Due to this, its core cannot achieve such high temperatures which are required for fusion reaction to start, the kind of which go on inside the Sun. The core of Jupiter could only heat up only a few tens of thousands of degrees, which slowly faded as Jupiter cooled.

Interesting facts:

-From Jupiter, the Sun appears 3.6% as bright as the Earth.
-Amalthea was the last satellite discovered by visual means.
-Jupiter is the second most reflective planet with a geometric albedo of 0.52.
-Jupiter's polar diameter is 93% that of its equatorial diameter.
-Jupiter is more than 317 times as massive as the Earth.
-Ganymede is the most massive satellite in the Solar System possessing nearly 2.5% the mass of the Earth.
-Jupiter, the largest planet not only would fit 1266 Earths inside it, but the other eight planets would comprise of about 68.8% of Jupiter's volume.
-The largest single structure in the Solar System is the magnetosphere of Jupiter.