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Exploration

Nine spacecrafts have studied jupiter up close. NASA'S Juno spacecraft is currently studying the gas giant planet from orbit

The spacecraft, which arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, is the first to study the planet's mysterious, cloud-shrouded interior. Scientists also use the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes to regularly check in on Jupiter.

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter. It was followed by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys. NASA's Galileo mission was first to orbit Jupiter and to send an atmospheric probe into the stormy clouds. The international Ulysses mission used Jupiter's powerful gravity to hurl itself into orbital passes of the Sun's northern and southern poles. Both Cassini and New horizons studied Jupiter as they hurtled on to their main science targets — Saturn for Cassini and Pluto and the Kuiper Belt for New Horizons.

Two new missions are in the works to make close studies of Jupiter's moons NASA's Europa clipper and ESA's Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE).

Jupiter holds a unique place in the history of space exploration. In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei used a new invention called the telescope to look at Jupiter and discovered the first moons known to exist beyond Earth. The discovery ended incorrect, ancient belief that everything, including the Sun and other planets, orbited the Earth.

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Atmosphere

Jupiter's appearance is tapestry of colorful cloud bands and spots. The gas planet likely has three distinct cloud layers in its "skies" that, taken together, span about 44 miles (71 kilometers). The top cloud is probably made of ammonia ice, while the middle layer is likely made of ammonium hydr...

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Rings

Discoverd in 1979 by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, Jupiter's rings were a surprise, as they are composed of small, dark particles and are difficult to see except when backlit by the Sun. Data from the Galileo spacecraft indicate that Jupiter's ring system may be formed by dust kicked up as interpl...

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Potential for life

Jupiter's environment is probably not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.

While planet Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things to take hold, the sa...

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Surface

As a gas giant, Jupiter doesn't have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Jupiter, it wouldn’t be able to fly through unscathed either.

The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet crush, melt an...

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Formation

Jupiter took shape when the rest of the solar system formed about 4,5 billion years ago, when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become this gas giant.

Jupiter took most of the mass left over after the formation of the Sun, ending up with more than twice the combined material of th...

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Structure

The composition of jupiter is similar to that of the Sun - mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a liquid.

This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the solar system—an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water....

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Magnetoshpere

The jovian magnetoshpere is the region of space influenced by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. It balloons 600,000 to 2 million miles (1 to 3 million kilometers) toward the Sun (seven to 21 times the diameter or Jupiter itself) and tapers into a tadpole-shaped tail extending more than 600 milli...

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Size and distance

With a radius of 43,440.7 miles (69,911 kilometers), Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Jupiter would be about as big as a basketball.

From an average distance of 484 million miles (778 million kilometers), Jupiter is 5.2 astronomical units away from t...

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Jupiter

Jupiter is our fith planet from our Sun and is by far, the largest planet in the solar system - more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined. Jupiter's stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Jupite...

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Moons

With four large moons and many smallersm moons, Jupiter forms a kind of miniature solar system. Jupiter has 53 confirmed moons and 26 provisional moons awaiting confirmation of discovery. Moons are named after they are confirmed.

Jupiter's four largest moons—Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callist...

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Orbit and rotation

Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. One day on Jupiter takes only about 10 hours (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate or spin around once), and Jupiter makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Jovian time) in about 12 Earth years (4,333 Earth days).

Its equator is ...

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Quick facts

Day: 9,93 hours
Year: 11.86 Earth years
Radius: 88,846 miles / 142,984 kilometers
Planet type: Gas giant
Temperature: -160 degrees Fahrenheit (-110 degrees Celsius)

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CURATED FROM

In Depth | Jupiter – NASA Solar System Exploration

solarsystem.nasa.gov

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CURATED BY

Rogier. H

@rogierhoekstra

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