PV Gap

Denise Said:

Is Jupiter a subject on the Solar System? If so, please can I have some information on it.?

We Answered:

Jupiter is the fifth and largest known planet in the solar system having a diameter of 142,984 km at its equator. In comparision the Earth's diameter is only 12,756km. It is 2.5 times bigger than all the other planets in the solar system put together. It was named Jupiter by the Romans from their god Jupiter or Jove.

It is classified as a gas giant planet along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune because most of its volume is gas - mainly hydrogen whereas our earth is a rocky planet because it is mainly made of rock and molten rock. Therefore it is not very dense - it is 1317 times the Earth's volume but only has 318 times the Earth's mass.

It is 778 million km from the Sun, in comparision, Earth is only around 150 million km from the Sun. It takes 11.86 years for Jupiter to complete one orbit around the Sun.

Although it is such a big planet, it has the fastest rotation out of all the planets in the solar system - one day on Jupiter lasts 10 hours.

It's fast spin also give it very strong weather patterns. On a picture of Jupiter you can see the layers of atmospheric gasses in rings moving around the planet and the infamous Great Red Spot which is storm big enough to fit 3 Earths inside. It has also lasted for atleast 300 years however some pictures suggest it may be becoming smaller lately.

Jupiter is believed to have a dense rocky core of about 12 times the earth's mass.

Jupiter has atleast 63 moons with its 4 Galilean moons being the largest and most well known - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Jupiter also has a faint ring which is divided into 3 main segments.

Jupiter also has a huge magnetic field that is 14 times stronger than the Earth's.

Jupiter is known to be a protector of the Earth in the sense its huge gravitational field attracts many stray comets and asteroids many of which were aimed towards the inner solar system and Earth. However it also creates a problem in that its gravitational field can sometimes slingshot some fast comets our way which were unlikely to come our way before.

Since 1973, a number of space craft have flown past Jupiter but the only spacecraft to have orbitted Jupiter is the Galileo Orbiter which went around Jupiter in December 1995. Nasa is planning to launch another space craft to study Jupiter in detail called Juno in 2011.

The possibility of life on Jupiter is very low as atmospheric concentrations of water are quite low, wind speeds are titanic and it doesn't really have a surface until you hit the core where atmospheric pressures and gravity would be too high to support life. However it has been suggested that if there is life that there may be some in the upper atmosphere like plankton living in top layers of the sea on Earth. It is however very unlikely.

Johnny Said:

Solar system?

We Answered:

wikipedia.com.
Astronomy.com.
Space.com
nasa.gov.

Gloria Said:

"huge bang in solar system (2003-2004)" need information on this topic. please refer sites if any...... Thanks?

We Answered:

Aint ever been a huge bang in our solar system that has ever been recorded.

Irene Said:

Pls. name some scientists and their contribution in seeking information on how the solar system was formed.?

We Answered:

Edouard Roche is a good start - he produced "Roche's Limit"

maybe you could also look up Gerard Kuiper and Oort ( can't remember his first name )


In the thoretical dynamics side gingold and monoghan ( also lucy) did some work back in the seventies on computer modelling accretion.

best of luck

Arnold Said:

What was the name of the super nova that created our solar system?

We Answered:

There isn't one single supernova that created our solar system.
The components of the solar system (all the atoms) heavier than Helium were created inside stars and then ejected into space - mostly by supernovae, but not exclusively. Evidence from meteorites (presolar grains) shows that some of the material from which the solar system formed came from stars more like the sun that went red giant instead of going supernova.

However, there is evidence that a supernova was instrumental in causing the collapse of the gas cloud from which the solar system formed. This evidence is largely in the form of 26^Mg which came from 26^Al which is radioactive and short-lived.
The supernova does not have a name - remember it had to happen before the solar system, so over 5 billion years ago. There isn't much left for us to call anything (although some of it is possible inside you!)