JUPITER–THE GIANT GAS

 

JUPITER – THE GIANT GAS

 

-       By Anjali Sah

-       Batch(2k19), Deptt. of Chemical Engg.

-       BIT Sindri, Dhanbad

JUPITER

Space science has always been esoteric but the curiosity to peep into its depths are now ameliorative and are very transparent. We are up with many such advancement in this field, it’s always been a fantasy to know the unknown especially talking of the magical space, the planets in our own solar system. Talking about Jupiter, well known as the biggest planet of our solar system has no Earth like surface. Jupiter’s appearance is a tapestry of colourful clouds bands and spots. Its atmosphere is a swirling, colourful chaotic mix up of current and eddies.

The gas giant likely has three distinct cloud layers in its “skies” that taken together span about 44 miles (71 KM) and mainly consist of hydrogen and helium that condenses into liquid the deeper you go, all wrapped in an atmosphere of clouds.

JUPITER’ S CLOUDS

Referring to the cloud composition Jupiter’s cloud are formed at different altitude in the planet’s atmosphere. Except for the top of great red spot, the white clouds are the highest, with cloud temperature of about 120 K. The white clouds consist of frozen ammonia crystals are thus analogous to the water cirrus clouds in the earth’s atmosphere. The tawny clouds that are widely distributed over the planet occur at lower levels. They appear to form at a temperature of about 200K which suggests that they probably consist of condensed ammonium hydrosulphide and that their colour may be caused by other common sulphur compounds such as ammonium polysulphides. Sulphur compounds are invoked as likely colouring agents because sulphur is relatively abundant in the cosmos and hydrogen sulphide is notably absent from Jovian atmosphere above the clouds.

Looking a bit like earth thunderheads, a white band of high-altitude clouds emerge above the colourful patterns of Jupiter in a photo taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Measurement taken by Juno suggest the atmosphere extends nearly 2000 miles below the gaseous surface. The solar-powered space craft eased into a 53day orbit around Jupiter in 2016 for a mission expected to last into 2021.

JUPITER’S MOONS

Jupiter has enormous, colourful and variety of moons. There are 79 moons according to the scientists, 53 of which are named and 26 awaiting official names.

The moons which grasp the attention of the scientists are the four super large moons of Jupiter.

They are Lo, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa. Lets board on a journey of exploring these super fascinating large moons called the Galilean satellites named after Galileo Galilei who first observed them in 1610.

1. Lo

Lo travels in its slightly elliptical orbit, Jupiter's immense gravity causes "tides" in the solid surface that rise 300 feet (100 meters) high on Io, generating enough heat for volcanic activity and to drive off any water. Io's volcanoes are driven by hot silicate magma.

2. Europa

 Europa's surface is mostly water ice, and there is evidence that it may be covering an ocean of water or slushy ice beneath. Europa is thought to have twice as much water as does Earth. This moon intrigues astrobiologists because of its potential for having a "habitable zone." Life forms have been found thriving near subterranean volcanoes on Earth and in other extreme locations that may be analogues to what may exist on Europa.

3.Ganymede

This wondrous moon is the largest moon in the solar system and the only moon which potentially has its own internal magnetic field.

4.Callisto

Callisto's surface is extremely heavily cratered and ancient—a visible record of events from the early history of the solar system. However, the very few small craters on Callisto indicate a small degree of current surface activity. 

                                                                      

Structure and Explorations

These super moons of Jupiter unveil interior which has a layered structure as in Lo has a core, a mantle of at least partially molten rock, topped by a crust of solid rock coated with sulphur compounds. Europa and Ganymede both have a core; a rock envelope around the core; a thick, soft ice layer; and a thin crust of impure water ice. Layering at Callisto is less well defined and appears to be mainly a mixture of ice and rock. 

What if you come to know that these moons are interested in playing tug-of-war with each other, referring to the influence which these moons have on each other. Io is in a tug-of-war with Ganymede and Europa, and Europa's orbital period (time to go around Jupiter once) is twice Io's period, and Ganymede's period is twice that of Europa. In other words, every time Ganymede goes around Jupiter once, Europa makes two orbits and Io makes four orbits. The moons all keep the same face towards Jupiter as they orbit, meaning that each moon turns once on its axis for every orbit around Jupiter.

FIG: The multi ring basin on Callisto

 Pioneers 10 and 11 (1973 to 1974) and Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 (1979) offered striking colour views and global perspectives from their flybys of the Jupiter system. From 1995 to 2003, the Galileo spacecraft made observations from repeated elliptical orbits around Jupiter, passing as low as 162 miles (261 km) over the surfaces of the Galilean moons. These close approaches resulted in images with unprecedented detail of selected portions of the surfaces.                              

JUPITER’S RINGS

System of rings this gas giant possess are called the rings of Jupiter or the Jovian ring system. The Jovian ring system is faint and consists mainly of dust. It has four main components: a thick inner torus of particles known as the "halo ring"; a relatively bright, exceptionally thin "main ring"; and two wide, thick and faint outer "gossamer rings", named for the moons of whose material they are composed:  Amalthea and Thebe.

In visible and near-infrared light, the rings have a reddish colour, except the halo ring, which is neutral or blue in colour. The size of the dust in the rings varies, but the cross-sectional area is greatest for non-spherical particles of radius about 15 micro metre in all rings except the halo. The halo ring is probably dominated by sub micrometre dust. The total mass of the ring system (including unresolved parent bodies) is poorly known, but is probably in the range of 10¹¹ to 10¹⁶ kg. The age of the ring system is not known, but it may have existed since the formation of Jupiter. 

 

   DID YOU KNOW?

Ø  Jupiter is over 11 times larger than the Earth.

 

Ø  Jupiter’s enormous magnetic field is the strongest of all the planets in the solar system nearly 20,000 times the strength of Earth’s.

 

Ø  Jupiter radiates more heat than received from the Sun. The heat is produced inside by Kelvin Helmholtz mechanism through contraction

 

Ø  The observation of Jupiter dates back to at least the Babylonian astronomers of the 7th or 8th century BC.

 

Ø  Jupiter mass is 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the solar system combine.

 

Ø  Jupiter mass (M-Jupiter) is often used as the unit to describe the masses of other objects, particularly extra solar planets and brown dwarfs.

 

Ø  Nine spacecrafts have visited Jupiter. Pioneers 10 and 11, voyager 1 & 2, Galileo, Cassini, Ulysses and new horizons.

 

Ø  Currently, Jupiter gravitational fields influences numerous asteroid. These are called trojan asteroids.

 

Ø  The Average distance between Jupiter and the Sun is 778 million km and it completes its orbit every 11.86 years.

 

Ø  Lo, one of the largest moons of Jupiter is the most volcanically active body of the solar system.

 

 

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