What does Jupiter mean?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are among the giant planets. Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are obviously different from Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Their mass is greater, and their atmosphere is several Qian Qian meters thick, which is different from that of Mercury and other tens of kilometers thick. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. For example, if Jupiter is a goldfish bowl, it will hold 1200 glass balls the size of the earth. Another way of saying this is that if all the other planets in the solar system are crammed into Jupiter, there will be room left.

When we observe Jupiter with a telescope, we will find that there are dense and active cloud systems on Jupiter. Clouds of all colors churn like waves. Due to Jupiter's rapid rotation speed, stripes parallel to the equator and alternating light and dark can be observed in its atmosphere, in which the bright bands move upward and the dark bands move downward. Although Jupiter has an iron core like the Earth, 85% of it is hydrogen, and the remaining 15% is mainly helium. Other elements only account for 1%. This is because Jupiter has a strong gravitational field, which maintains the atmospheric composition in the early solar system. The weak gravity of the earth makes it lose most of its original elements. Unlike the white clouds on the earth, the clouds on Jupiter are colorful. This is mainly due to the complex compounds in Jupiter's atmosphere.

Life on Jupiter passes faster than any other planet in the solar system. Although Jupiter is the largest one in the solar system, this does not prevent it from becoming the fastest rotating planet in the solar system. A Jupiter day on earth is less than 10 hour. Like the sun, Jupiter's surface is not solid. At different latitudes, Jupiter's rotation speed is different (rotation difference) and the length of a day is different. Near the equator, there are 9 hours and 50 minutes in a day (earth time); Near the polar regions, there are 9 hours and 56 minutes (Earth Time) in a day.

Jupiter has a great red spot. The Great Red Spot was discovered by French astronomer Cassini in 1665. Located in the south latitude, it is 40,000 kilometers long from east to west and10.3 million kilometers wide from north to south, which is comparable to the size of the whole earth. The detector found that the Great Red Spot was a violent rising airflow with reddish brown color.

Jupiter has the worst weather in the solar system. Because the temperature is too low, there will be ammonia snow on Jupiter Hail will form in an atmosphere larger than the whole earth. The energy of lightning in a huge storm is enough to evaporate a city on earth. The weather on the earth is mainly driven by the energy radiated by the sun, which causes the temperature difference in different parts of the atmosphere to form wind, and solar energy evaporates seawater to form rain. The source of Jupiter's weather energy is in it. The temperature at the top of Jupiter's atmosphere is-150℃, and the core temperature can reach several thousand degrees. This is because Jupiter has an internal heat source.

Unlike the earth, Jupiter has no solid surface. From the top of Jupiter's atmosphere to a few meters below Qian Qian, you will find a huge ocean. Unlike the ocean visible on the earth, this ocean is not made of water, but of liquid metal hydrogen that can conduct electricity. It is a liquid formed by hydrogen at atmospheric pressure equivalent to millions of earths. Beneath the strangest ocean in this solar system are Jupiter's mantle and Jupiter's core composed of molten iron and silicate.

All the planets in the solar system originated from a lot of hot gas and dust 4.6 billion years ago. Jupiter has such a high surface temperature because it has internal energy to release energy. Scientists speculate that Jupiter is still collapsing inside, and in the process of collapse, gravitational energy is converted into heat energy and released. The huge core of Mars sinks a few centimeters every year, which will release enough energy to maintain the incredible high temperature on Jupiter's surface. Therefore, Jupiter radiates 2.5 times as much energy into space as it receives from the sun every year.

If Jupiter wants to become a star, its core temperature must reach 1 million degrees, which is enough to ignite thermonuclear reaction (the reaction of hydrogen polymerizing into helium) and release huge energy. To reach such a high core temperature, Jupiter's mass must be at least 100 times larger than it is now. It can't get such a large mass from other places, so it can't be a star.

In the past, people speculated that there was a dust layer or dust ring near Jupiter, but it was not confirmed. It was not until March 1979 that Voyager 1 visited Jupiter that Jupiter's aura was photographed. Jupiter's halo is shaped like a thin disk, with a thickness of about 30 kilometers, a width of about 6,500 kilometers and a distance of 6,543.8+0.28 million kilometers from Jupiter. It also orbits Jupiter every seven hours. It is mainly composed of many black rubble, which does not reflect sunlight, so it has not been discovered for a long time.

Jupiter has a strong magnetic field. Jupiter has an iron core, which makes it look like a bar magnet is buried under Jupiter's surface. Jupiter's magnetic field intensity reaches 3 ~ 14 gauss (the surface intensity of geomagnetic field is only 0.3 ~ 0.8 gauss). Jupiter's magnetic field also binds many charged particles in the solar wind, forming a belt similar to the Van Allen Belt around the earth. Those bound particles will kill people when they hit people, so unmanned spacecraft will still be the main force to explore Jupiter in the future.

1July, 994, Jupiter was hit hard. At that time, the whole impact process was broadcast live on TV: more than 20 pieces of comet fragments the size of mountains hit Jupiter at a speed of 6.5438+0.3 million km/s, and the energy released was equivalent to the energy released by the explosion of millions of tons of TNT explosives. The shock wave produced by the impact is as big as the whole earth, and the dark clouds made up of materials caused by the shock wave last for 1 year.

1On February 7th, 995, after six years' long journey, the spacecraft Galileo arrived and entered Jupiter's orbit (its former "Pioneer" and "Voyager" just passed Jupiter). Galileo will send back precious Jupiter data for at least two years and release the first artificial robot to explore Jupiter's atmosphere. Galileo's photos have higher ground resolution than travelers' and will provide us with better information.

The robot released by Galileo into Jupiter's atmosphere sent back 1 hour data before being affected by the high temperature and high pressure environment on Jupiter. The results show that the wind speed on Jupiter reaches 335 km/s, which is greater than 200 km/s expected by scientists. The robot released by Galileo also found that no scientists on Jupiter predicted many compounds that caused Jupiter's color clouds, such as ethane and phosphine. It also found that there was less helium on Jupiter than expected. However, this is not enough to deny scientists' previous speculation, because this robotic probe only detected the top of Jupiter's atmosphere 1 hour, not a comprehensive detection. When Galileo observed Jupiter, he found four bright spots arranged in a straight line on both sides of Jupiter. Through continuous observation, it is found that although these four bright spots have exchanged positions, they always surround Jupiter. Galileo correctly identified them as Jupiter's moons and named them after his research patron medici family. However, later generations called these four satellites Galileo satellites. These four satellites are actually brighter than the darkest stars we can see with the naked eye. But it was not until the invention of the telescope that we found that all four satellites were covered by Jupiter's light. In Greek mythology, Zeus is the god who commands the gods, and Jupiter represents Zeus. Therefore, people vividly named four satellites after Zeus' servants and lovers: Callisto, Carmel, Europa and Io.

Since Galileo discovered Jupiter's moons, more than 60 moons have been discovered. Among them, Galileo satellite is the largest four. They move in different directions around Jupiter, just like a mini solar system. Some of these satellites have been observed by spacecraft at close range and found that there are great differences between them. The smallest is only the size of ordinary rocks, and the largest is bigger than the earth.

Callisto is a dirty snowball. Callisto is 3000 kilometers in diameter, which is bigger than the moon. It is an ice satellite with water ice accounting for more than 1/2, with dark surface and numerous craters. The most impressive geological structure of Callisto is the central area of Varhala hit by meteorites, under which clean water may be mined. Ganymede, with a diameter of 5,262 kilometers, is the largest satellite in the solar system, bigger than Mercury. It consists of a rock core surrounded by ice and snow. Ganymede has many craters, as well as "sea", highlands, ice peaks and more dark landforms.

Continue sailing from Ganymede to Europa. Europa is 2000 kilometers wide, and its spectrum shows that its surface is pure water ice, which is relatively young in geology. It is like a billiard ball, with an unusually flat surface, and the surface elevation difference of the whole satellite does not exceed several tens of meters. Europa's surface is criss-crossed, with stripes stretching for hundreds of kilometers. This reminds scientists of the structure of marine ice formed in the process of ice formation, and then melted in the ocean part of the earth. So some people think that there is an ocean under Europa's surface. Because of the possible existence of water, Europa is also one of the candidate celestial bodies for possible life in the solar system. Soon, the spacecraft may bring back a piece of ice from Europa for research.

Io has become the most beautiful celestial body in the solar system with active volcanoes and constantly updated colored surfaces. Of the eight volcanic eruption plumes seen by Voyager 1, seven were seen by Voyager 2 four months later, rising more than 300 kilometers high and 1000 kilometers wide like a giant fountain. The frequent volcanic eruptions of Io may be due to the tidal interaction between Io and Jupiter and Europa. Io has almost no craters on its surface, and its shell has no ice.

Why does Io look so strange? Scientists found the answer in the deep exposure image of Io's dark area sent back by Voyager (to show the stars, make sure Voyager is heading in the right direction). There, lava from an active volcano is rising from the edge of the satellite and spraying into the air for nearly 320 kilometers. Soon, more than six other active volcanoes were discovered, all of which were erupting a lot of sulfur similar to lava. Every volcano is as big as France. Because the surface of Io is often covered by its erupting internal substances, it has no craters. Io is the most active place in the solar system-a world that almost turns itself out.

Io's proximity to the giant Jupiter is the reason why it has an incredible volcano. Just as the moon exerts tidal force on the earth, Jupiter exerts this influence on Io. But Jupiter is so huge that its tidal influence is extremely strong. Just like a tennis ball will be constantly deformed under a powerful attack, the surface of Io on the track is forced to protrude and recess about 90 meters. Just like the huge molten sulfur in the thin spherical shell, it breaks through the holes and cracks in the shell, and all the materials inside explode into the nearby vacuum, producing huge plume volcanic smoke. Sulfur in different chemical states and temperatures forms various colors on Io's surface.

In the late 1970s, when Voyager discovered a volcano on the back of Io, Hubble Space Telescope enabled us to pay close attention to this extraordinary world. 1In July, 995, a new yellow and white spot appeared on Io. Close to 320 kilometers wide, it can almost be considered as the eruption of another huge volcano. 1In May, 1996, Galileo discovered that the change of Jupiter's magnetic field can be attributed to Io's iron core, and its width is about 1600 km-almost12 of the satellite's own diameter. So Io became the first known satellite with its own magnetic field. Io is "the kind of person who litters". When Io orbits Jupiter and spews out its sulfur smoke, it relies on the sulfur molecular clouds left in its path to "dirty" its orbit. Over time, this has formed a complete circular cloud around Jupiter, depicting the entire orbit of Io.

As we get closer and closer to Jupiter, the density of its four largest satellites will increase in turn, and the internal temperature will gradually increase in turn. Callisto (Europa) and Callisto (Ganymede) are almost a dirty snowball, while Europa is basically a sea world under its thin ice shell. IO is almost entirely composed of molten sulfur and iron, with no craters and no water or ice on its surface. Similarly, the surface of Callisto is completely ancient, and in fact there is no indication that it has internal activities. In contrast, the curved mountains of Ganymede prove that some geological activities are going on there. The cross ice sample on Europa may indicate the repeated melting and freezing process until now, and its thin or semi-soluble ice shell has lost the traces of many craters in the past. Finally, Io and its erupting volcano constantly resurfaced. In fact, Io has the "youngest face" in the whole solar system.

Jupiter is the main reason for the differences among its large satellites. To put it simply, the closer the satellite is to Jupiter, the stronger the tidal force and the greater the tidal energy. Therefore, farther places (such as Callisto and Ganymede) are frozen solids, while places near Jupiter are warmer. This shows whether a satellite is solid, liquid or molten, which determines whether the initial water of the satellite remains frozen in one place or evaporated into space a long time ago, leaving heavy matter to make the satellite denser.