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|color=Colored latitudinal bands
|color=Colored latitudinal bands
|albedo=0.52<ref name=ssdphys>"[http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?planet_phys_par Planet Physical Characteristics]." Solar System Dynamics, [[JPL]], [[NASA]]. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref>
|albedo=0.52<ref name=ssdphys>"[http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?planet_phys_par Planet Physical Characteristics]." Solar System Dynamics, [[JPL]], [[NASA]]. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref>
|mfd=4.28 G <ref name=jupiterfact>"[http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/jupiterfact.html Jupiter Fact Sheet]," [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]], November 2, 2007. Accessed May 12, 2008.</ref>
|mdmp=1.55 * 10<sup>27</sup> N-m/T<ref name=Humphreys>Humphreys, D. R. "[http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/articles/21/21_3/21_3.html The Creation of Planetary Magnetic Fields]." ''[[Creation Research Society Quarterly]]'' 21(3), December 1984. Accessed April 29, 2008.</ref>
|mdmc=1.79 * 10<sup>27</sup> N-m/T<ref name=Humphreys/>
|mdt=45,469 a<ref name=calc/>
|mhl=31,516 a<ref name=calc/>
}}
}}
'''Jupiter''' is the fifth [[planet]] from the [[sun]], and the most massive. In fact, this [[gas giant]] is the largest body in the [[solar system]] except for the sun itself, and more than two times as massive as all the other planets combined. In composition it closely resembles a [[star]], so much so that some authorities hold that had it been eighty times as massive, it would have become a star.
'''Jupiter''' is the fifth [[planet]] from the [[sun]], and the most massive. In fact, this [[gas giant]] is the largest body in the [[solar system]] except for the sun itself, and more than two times as massive as all the other planets combined. In composition it closely resembles a [[star]], so much so that some authorities hold that had it been eighty times as massive, it would have become a star.
Jupiter actually radiates 1.7 times the heat that strikes it from the Sun.<ref name=Weisstein>Weisstein, Eric W. "[http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Jupiter.html Jupiter]." ''Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy'', accessed March 3, 2008.</ref> This could be due to Kelvin-Helmholtz gravitational compression, a process that also limits the size that Jupiter can have.<ref name=arnett/>
Jupiter actually radiates 1.7 times the heat that strikes it from the Sun.<ref name=Weisstein>Weisstein, Eric W. "[http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Jupiter.html Jupiter]." ''Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy'', accessed March 3, 2008.</ref> This could be due to Kelvin-Helmholtz gravitational compression, a process that also limits the size that Jupiter can have.<ref name=arnett/>
== Magnetic field ==
== Magnetosphere ==
Jupiter has a magnetic field about 14 times as strong as that of Earth. This field tends to shield Jupiter from the [[solar wind]]. However, the field has also trapped large numbers of radioactive particles in a Van-Allen-like radiation belt<ref name=nasa3/> that actually encompasses the orbits of the seven innermost moons. The magnetic field extends beyond the far side of Jupiter for at least 700 million kilometers.<ref name=nasa3/>
Jupiter has a magnetic field about 14 times as strong as that of Earth. Specifically, its [[magnetic dipole moment]] amounts to 1.55 * 10<sup>27</sup> N-m/T, higher than that of any object except the [[Sun]]. It is so high, in fact, that by [[Russell Humphreys]]' model for planetary magnetic fields, Jupiter's field must have formed with ''all'' of its mass aligned for the maximum cumulative magnetic dipole moment, instead of the usual 25%. By this assumption, the magnetic dipole moment of Jupiter at creation must have been 1.79 * 10<sup>27</sup> N-m/T. The half-life of this field is longer than 31,500 Julian years.
This field tends to shield Jupiter from the [[solar wind]]. However, the field has also trapped large numbers of radioactive particles in a Van-Allen-like radiation belt<ref name=nasa3/> that actually encompasses the orbits of the seven innermost moons. The magnetic field extends beyond the far side of Jupiter for at least 700 million kilometers.<ref name=nasa3/>
The very strong magnetic field of Jupiter is extraordinary by any standard. The Humphreys model has passed two key tests of its predictive value, one at [[Uranus]] and the other at [[Neptune]].<ref name=Humphreys2>Humphreys, D. R. "[http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&page=329 Beyond Neptune: Voyager II Supports Creation]." [[Institute for Creation Research]]. Accessed April 30, 2008</ref> That model normally assumes that God formed any given celestial body initially out of water, with its molecules partially aligned for maximum cumulative effect, and then transmuted the molecules after the magnetic field was established. For most celestial bodies thus far observed, an alignment fraction of 25% suffices to establish a magnetic dipole moment at creation. But Jupiter's magnetic dipole moment is far too high to have resulted from an initial alignment of 25%. An alignment of 100% seems to be required, the highest fraction allowable and the highest fraction of all celestial bodies observed to date. This implies that God made Jupiter to be a beacon in the night sky, in more ways than merely by making it large.
Jupiter's orbit is inclined 1.305 degrees to the ecliptic, so Jupiter appears, in turn, in each constellation of the Zodiac. In fact, its 399-day synodic year places it in a different constellation of the Zodiac at the same point in each succeeding year. Pratt<ref name=Pratt>Pratt, John C. "[http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2005/zodiac.html The Constellations Tell of Christ]." ''Meridian'', June 15, 2005. Accessed May 12, 2008.</ref> shows that the members of the Zodiac, and a number of closely associated constellations, presage the life and ministry of [[Jesus Christ]]. If Jupiter is indeed a beacon, then it could not have been better placed.
== Ring system ==
== Ring system ==
Jupiter's sidereal day is less than ten Earth hours long. If Jupiter formed simply as an accretion aggregate of the [[nebula hypothesis|solar nebula]], then it should not have acquired such tremendous angular momentum. The problem involves not merely the short sidereal day but also Jupiter's tremendous mass.
Jupiter's sidereal day is less than ten Earth hours long. If Jupiter formed simply as an accretion aggregate of the [[nebula hypothesis|solar nebula]], then it should not have acquired such tremendous angular momentum. The problem involves not merely the short sidereal day but also Jupiter's tremendous mass.
The alternative theory is that Jupiter formed as a "failed protostar" at the center of its own nebula. But Jupiter never ignited--and furthermore, none of Jupiter's 63 moons is gaseous. Therefore a key event in the nebular sequence did not take place. Besides, the four dwarf-planet-sized [[Galilean moons]] have vastly differing apparent geological "ages," coming from times estimated to be as disparate as ten million years to as recent as thirteen hundred (although the times cannot be fixed with any reliability).<ref>Fulbright, Jeannie. ''Exploring Creation with Astronomy.'' Apologia Educational Ministries, 2004.</ref>
The alternative theory is that Jupiter formed as a "failed protostar" at the center of its own nebula. This theory has several problems:
# Jupiter never ignited, though its magnetic field is four times as strong as its mass would normally predict.
# None of Jupiter's 63 moons is gaseous. Therefore a key event in the nebular sequence did not take place.
# The four dwarf-planet-sized [[Galilean moons]] have vastly differing apparent geological "ages" coming from times estimated to be as disparate as ten million years to as recent as thirteen hundred (although the times cannot be fixed with any reliability).<ref>Fulbright, Jeannie. ''Exploring Creation with Astronomy.'' Apologia Educational Ministries, 2004.</ref>
# Many of Jupiter's outer moons move retrograde to Jupiter's own day.
== Exploration ==
== Exploration ==