The planets in our Solar System

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Spacecraft Observations of Jupiter

• Pioneer 10 flew by Jupiter on December 1, 1973. • Pioneer 11 flew by Jupiter on December 1, 1974. • Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter on March 5, 1979.• Voyager 2 flew by Jupiter on July 9, 1979.• Ulysses, studies the poles of the Sun. Jupiter flyby

February 8, 1992. • Galileo Orbiter/Atmospheric Probe - 1995 – 2003.• Hubble Space Telescope - observations since April

25, 1990.• Cassini – en route to Saturn, December 2000, and

now there.

Voyager Spacecraft

Galileo Mission to

Jupiter and its moons

The Voyager Spacecraft on

its way, looking back at Earth and

our Moon

Galileo atmospheric probe of Jupiter’s atmosphere - December 7th, 1995

Depth of measurements ~200 km

Jupiter, with its dark belts (where gases move down into the interior), and light zones

(where gases move upwards). Also

visible is the Great Red Spot, a huge

hurricane that has been observed from

Earth for ~ 350 years, and other

more or less temporary surface

features

Jupiter’s Cloud Structure

1

2

3

4

5

Red Spot

180 km

120 - 110 km

90 km

70 - 80 km

30 km

-143 C -18 C 127 C

o o o

Some features in Jupiter’s dynamic atmosphere change just like weather on Earth. The 2 images are 10 hours apart.

Winds at top of atmosphere – travel in opposite directions at different latitudes

Observed circulation of Jupiter’s Red Spot

Jupiter’s Red Spot is a 350 year old hurrican!

Nighttime image showing lightning in Jupiter’s

atmosphere

Other storms (“small spots”) in Jupiter’s atmosphere

Ring around Jupiter,

discovered by the Voyager Spacecraft

Ring system – made of fragments of ice

182,000 km

Moons inside ring system

Internal structure

of Jupiter

Strength of the magnetic fields of the planets. Jupiter has by far the strongest magnetic field, because its interior is made of

an excellent electric conductor (liquid metallic hydrogen), and because the planet rotates around its axis faster than any other (once in 10 hours).

Aurora at poles of Jupiter – show that Jupiter has a strong magnetic field

Jupiter summary