{{Planet
| name=Jupiter
| image=Jumpsas.jpg
| caption=This processed color image of Jupiter was produced in 1990 by the U.S. Geological Survey from a Voyager image captured in 1979
| symbol=Jupiter symbol.svg|discname=Known to ancients|origname=Roman king of gods<ref name=nasa1>"[http://solarsystem.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jupiter&Display=Overview Entry for Jupiter]." ''Solar System Exploration'', [[NASA]]. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref>| order=56| diameterprimary=Sun| radiusperiapsis=714.95 AU<ref name=nasa1/>|apoapsis=5.46 AU<ref name=nasa1/>|semimajor=5.203 AU<ref name=nasa1/><ref name=nasa2>Williams,492 David R. "[http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/jupiterfact.html Jupiter Fact Sheet]." National Space Science Data Center, [[NASA]], November 2, 2007. Accessed March 2, 2008.</ref>|bode=5.2 AU<ref name=calc>Calculated</ref>|circumference=32.675 AU<ref name=nasa1/>|eccentricity=0.048<ref name=nasa1/>|sidereal=11.862 a<ref name=nasa1/><ref name=nasa2/>|synodic=398.88 da (1.092 a)<ref name=nasa2/>|orbitspeed=13.07 km/s<ref name=nasa1/><ref name=nasa2/>|inclination=1.305°<ref name=nasa1/>|reference=the ecliptic|siderealday=9.925 h (0.414 da)<ref name=nasa1/><ref name=nasa2/>|solarday=9.9259 h<ref name=nasa2/>|axialtilt=3.13°<ref name=nasa1/>| mass=1.900x108986 × 10<sup>27</sup> kg(317.705 × earth)<ref name=nasa1/>| distancedensity=5.2028 AU1,326 kg/m³<ref name=nasa1/>| daysurfacegrav=022.41354 earth days88 m/s² (2.333 ''g'')<ref name=nasa1/>| yearescapespeed=433259.56 km/s<ref name=nasa1/>|equatorradius =71 ,492 km<ref name=nasa1/>|surfacearea=61,400,000,000 km² (120.375 × earth days)<ref name=nasa1/>|meantemp=152 K<ref name=nasa1/>| moons=2866| composition=90% hydrogen and 10% helium<ref name=nasa1/>| 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>| datemfd=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>| discnamepmdm=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>| orignamecmdm=Roman god1.79 × 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 largest planet in our Solar Systemmost massive. It In fact, this [[gas giant]] is named for the highest deity largest body in the Roman pantheon of gods[[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 conspicuous == Ancient knowledge and easy to recognize when you know what to look fornaming ==Named after the ruler of the Roman gods, and Jupiter is easily visible through binoculars. It is not so large and bright as enough to instantly draw attention, but it is a good deal brighter than be seen by the brightest starnaked eye. It is in In fact it is the fourth -brightest object in the night sky (the others being , after the [[Sun]], the [[Moon]], and the planet [[Venus]]). <ref name=arnett>Arnett, Bill. "[http://www.nineplanets.org/jupiter.html Entry for Jupiter is not only brighter than any star]." ''The <s>Nine</s> 8 Planets'', it also shines more steadilyApril 10, 2005. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref> Jupiter is visible in conspicuous and easy to recognize. An observer carrying 7-power field glasses (of a type used for birding or hunting) will see a round disk that shines steadily. An observer with a small telescope should also be able to resolve the sky about half the time[[Galilean moons]], as [[Galileo Galilei]] himself did. They will appear, as they did to Galileo, as "stars" traveling in "formation" with Jupiter and is often high up and clear changing their positions relative to Jupiter in a single night of surrounding houses and treesobservation.
As The [[Babylonia]]ns believed that their god [[Marduk]] set Jupiter in the sky to guide the stars.<ref name=nelson>Nelson, Clark. "[http://www.timeemits.com/HoH_Articles/399-Day_Mean_Synodic_Period_of_Jupiter.htm 399-day Mean Synodic Period of FebruaryJupiter]." <http://www.timeemits.com/>, 20072006. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref> Jupiter is visible might have had an influence in the eastern sky before sunriseinvention of several ancient calendars, including the Mayan calendar, the Egyptian calendar, the ancient (pre-Hillel II) Hebrew calendar, and even possibly the calendar in use (at least by the early stages [[Seth]]ite generations of dawn[[Adam]] before the [[Great flood|Great Flood]]).<ref name=nelson/>
Through any pair The name of the Roman god derives from the Latin "realdyeu-pater" binoculars (any binoculars that an adult uses for birding or hunting will do; they should be at least 7 power; a and "spotting scope" is even better), you can see that Jupiter is not a star, but shows as a tiny round circle; astronomers say it has a visible "discius-pater." Jupiter through binoculars looks about 1<ref>http:/5 the size as the Moon looks ''without'' binoculars/www. You can't see any of the dramatic markings that you see in photographs made by astronomers, but you can see that it is a round dotetymonline.com/index.php?term=Jupiter</ref>
The exciting thing about == Orbital characteristics ==Jupiter is that usually you will see two, three, or four little "stars" near it that are all lined up completes one slightly eccentric orbit around the [[Sun]] in a straight line, with each other, and with Jupiter11. If you watch it night after night86 years, these "stars" will change their position relative and returns to the same position in [[Earth]]'s night sky in roughly 399 years.<ref name=nasa2/><ref name=nelson/> Its mean distance from the Sun is about 5.2 AU—almost exactly the distance predicted by the [[Titius-Bode law]] of planetary distances. Though Jupiteris the fifth ''planet'' from the Sun, but you almost always will see several of them and they will always be lined up. These are four it is actually the ''sixth'' object of a size requiring the satellites (moons) assumption of Jupitera spheroidal shape. Hence ''n=6'' is the proper number to use in the Bode's Law formula.
== Rotational characteristics ==Jupiter was visited by several has a very short sidereal day of about 9.92 hours. However, its latitudinal cloud bands rotate at different speeds, and some of these appear to rotate retrograde. Astronomers once calculated the Jovian day from observations of the equatorial cloud band, but today they rely on the periodicity of Jupiter's [[NASAmagnetic field]] spacecraft including Pioneer 10 in 1973 and Pioneer 11 in 1974. Larger craft<ref name=nasa3>Gierasch, both Voyager 1Peter J., Voyager 2 passed by Jupiter in 1979and Philip D. The spacecraft Galileo orbited Nicholson. "Jupiter specifically for eight years. Many other craft have visited " World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. World Book, Inc. <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar293080.> Hosted as "[https://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/jupiter_worldbook.html Entry for Jupiter], using it's gravity field to "boost" their speed on the way to their ultimate destinationWorld Book at NASA. Accessed March 3, 2008. </ref>
== Physical characteristics ==
Jupiter is about 318 times as massive as Earth, and has a radius of 71,492 km (44,423 miles). Its atmosphere is composed primarily of 86% [[hydrogen]], 14% [[helium]], and traces of [[methane]], [[ammonia]], [[phosphine]], [[water]], [[acetylene]], [[ethane]], [[germanium]], and [[carbon monoxide]].<ref name=nasa3/> It is so thick that no record exists of the surface, if Jupiter has one in the traditional sense—though Jupiter might have a heavy-metal core having a composition similar to that of [[Earth]] but 20 to 30 times as massive.<ref name=nasa3/>
=== The Great Red Spot and other storms ===
The planet endures continual storms. The most famous of these is the Great Red Spot, which has raged for at least three hundred years. The most precise estimate of its duration is 342 years,<ref name=Than>Than, Ker. "[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060731_red_spots.html Differences Spotted in Jupiter's Big Red Storms]." <http://www.space.com/>, July 31, 2006. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref> but this might refer merely to the first time that someone observed it with a telescope capable of resolving it. It is large enough to encompass the entirety of the [[Earth]] and rotates anticlockwise along Jupiter's equator. Winds at its edge circulate at 360 km/h,<ref name=nasa3/> far faster than those of the most powerful [[hurricane]] ever recorded on Earth.
=== Radiation of heat ===
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/> In this process, the planet's cooling causes it to compress, which in turn heats up Jupiter's core.
== Magnetosphere ==
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 [[radioactivity|radioactive]] [[subatomic particle|particles]] in a [[Van Allen radiation belt|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. "[https://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 ==
Jupiter does have a ring, consisting of three components, called the halo, the main ring, and the gossamer ring. This ring lies entirely within the region occupied by the four innermost moons, and probably derives its substance from escaping dust from the two innermost moons, [[Metis]] and [[Adrastea]]. The average size of the ring particles is 10 microns, comparable in size to the particles in [[tobacco]] smoke.<ref name=nasa4>Harvey, Samantha. "[http://solarsystem.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jupiter&Display=Rings Jupiter:Rings]." ''Solar System Exploration'', NASA, February 7, 2008. Accessed March 3, 2008.</ref>
==Shoemaker-Levy==
In 1994, scientists were able to witness fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collide with Jupiter. These collisions lasted for 6 days, starting on July 16 of that year, and was the first cosmic collision to be observed. During the impacts, at least 21 separate fragments with a size of up to 2 kilometers hit Jupiter, leaving scars in its atmosphere larger than several Earths.
== Problems for uniformitarian theories ==
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. 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 ==
[[Galileo Galilei]] studied Jupiter extensively and in the process discovered its four largest moons--[[Io]], [[Europa (moon)|Europa]], [[Ganymede]], and [[Callisto]], also known as the [[Galilean moons]]. Many other astronomers studied Jupiter from Earth-bound telescopes for hundreds of years. In the process they discovered twelve of Jupiter's moons and the Great Red Spot, but did not discover Jupiter's ring system.
Eight spacecraft, all from the [[United States]], have visited Jupiter thus far. First to do so was [[Pioneer 10]] (December 3, 1973), which suffered tremendously from the radiation belt but still provided the evidence for Jupiter's [[magnetosphere]]. [[Pioneer 11]] was next (December, 1974) and took far better images of Jupiter and its Great Red Spot.
[[Voyager 1]] (March, 1979) and [[Voyager 2]] (July, 1979) gave the first comprehensive views of Jupiter and the Jovian system, including the discovery of its rings, the discovery of four moons inside [[Io]]'s orbit, and the first extensive studies of the Galilean moons.
[[Ulysses]] (February 1992) made a brief flyby of Jupiter in order to place itself in polar orbit around the Sun. Nevertheless, [[European Space Agency]] scientists used this opportunity to make further measurements of Jupiter's magnetosphere and the effect upon it by the solar wind.
[[Galileo Project|Galileo]] reached Jupiter in 1995. It released a probe to dive into Jupiter's atmosphere; that probe transmitted for nearly an hour before the tremendous pressures crushed it. Galileo's orbiter remained in the system for nearly eight years, through two extensions of its mission, and conducted the most extensive surveys of the Galilean moons to day. Eventually, with the craft low on fuel, mission planners dived it into Jupiter to prevent its possibly crashing into [[Europa]], rupturing Europa's ice sheet, and contaminating the liquid ocean that astronomers now suspect lies a mere 10 km deep to the ice and could yet harbor [[extraterrestrial life]].<ref name=nasa3/>
[[Cassini-Huygens Mission|Cassini]] flew by Jupiter briefly in 2000 on its way to [[Saturn]]. While in the Jovian system, it took the image shown at the top of this article. Similarly the [[New Horizons mission]] included a Jupiter flyby in its journey to the [[Pluto]] system, passing Jupiter on February 28, 2007.<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/news/nh_jupiter_oct09.html Pluto-Bound New Horizons Sees Changes in Jupiter System] from nasa.gov</ref>
The latest probe to visit Jupiter is [[NASA]]'s [[Juno (probe)|Juno mission]].<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html Juno mission page]from nasa.gov</ref> It reached Jupiter in July 2016 and has returned highly detailed images of the planet. It aims to investigate Jupiter's magnetosphere further, as well as measuring its [[magnetic field|magnetic]] and [[gravitational]] fields to determine its internal structure.
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Solarsystem}}
[[Category:Planets]]