10 AMAZING Facts About Jupiter That SHOCKED Astronomers

 

aptly named after the king of the gods  jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun  and the largest one found in the entire  solar system  here are some of the most mind-blowing  facts about the massive planet  number 10 it's a failed star that's what  astronomers usually say when referring  to jupiter but it's not necessarily an  appropriate description  even though like a star jupiter is quite  rich in hydrogen and helium  it unfortunately falls short on the mass  scale and is unable to trigger a fusion  reaction in its core  stars generate energy by fusing hydrogen  atoms under extreme heat  and pressure to create helium releasing  light and heat in the process  the entire process is possible all  because of their enormous gravity  resulting from the colossal mass  jupiter however would need 70 times its  current mass to be able to  undergo the process of energy generation  nevertheless  jupiter remains a giant ball of gas that  is of crucial interest for astronomers  without any hopes of becoming a star any  time soon  number nine jupiter has the fastest  spinning speed  if you thought having a large mass was  going to be a hindrance for jupiter  you couldn't be more wrong in fact with  a rotational velocity of around 28  148 miles per hour the planet only takes  about 10 hours to complete a full  rotation around its axis  as a result it has the shortest day of  all planets despite its hefty size  it spins so rapidly that over time it is  flattened out at the poles a little  and is bulging at its equator the points  on jupiter's equator are more than 2  858 miles further from the center than  the poles  such a fast speed of rotation is also  the reason why jupiter has remarkably  powerful magnetic fields  it's actually 14 times stronger than the  magnetic field of earth  compasses would be super handy on a  place like jupiter  astronomers also think the magnetic  field results from the eddy currents or  swirling movements of conducting  materials within the liquid metallic  hydrogen core  number 8 it has over 79 moons even  though it is estimated that the planet  has over 200 natural satellites orbiting  it  79 of them have been confirmed and named  by astronomers so far  pretty much all of these moons are less  than 6.2 miles in diameter  and were only discovered after 1975.  among them there are four moons that are  considered to be major  collectively known as the galilean moons  in the order of distance from jupiter  these are  io europa ganymede and callisto  these moons happen to be some of the  largest ones found in the solar system  with ganymede topping the list it has a  diameter  of 3269 miles  they were first seen by galileo galilei  in 1609  and recognized by him as satellites of  jupiter in the following year  moreover they were the first objects  found to orbit a planet  other than the earth number seven it has  the brightest auroras in the solar  system  the aurora borealis also commonly known  as the northern lights  are nature's dazzling fireworks that are  quite a sight to witness  people have been treated to this  phenomenon from time to time  it's caused by the collision of  energetic particles with atoms in the  high altitude atmosphere  but it's not just limited to earth  auroras have been spotted on mars  uranus and jupiter over the years with  those observed on jupiter being some of  the shiniest auroras ever  even though similar to earth auroras on  jupiter are also caused by solar storms  they are in fact hundreds of times  brighter than the one seen on earth  the reason could be that jupiter has an  additional source that contributes to  the sparkle  charged particles that are thrown into  space by its orbiting moon io  which is famous for its numerous  gigantic volcanoes  number six its moons might actually  harbor life  the voyager and galileo missions  involved sending spacecraft to jupiter  and its moons  it was found that europa one of the  biggest moons in the solar system had a  subsurface liquid ocean covered in thick  ice  europa happens to meet three of the  fundamental conditions that are  necessary to sustain life  these include biochemically helpful  molecules a source of energy  and a liquid solvent in which dissolved  substances can chemically react with  each other  for that reason scientists now believe  that europa might in fact be capable of  harboring life  although unfortunately to confirm the  possibility we would have to get beneath  the ice one day by putting a lander on  the surface with the potential to carry  a submarine  that sounds like pure science fiction  but given the advancements in technology  over the past few decades  it's highly likely that researchers  might be able to pull it off during  our lifetimes number five jupiter was  first tracked by babylonians  we all know ancient babylonians were  skilled mathematicians  but to what extent precisely did their  wisdom reach  they understood the pythagorean theorem  nearly 4 000 years ago but their  mathematical prowess  knew no bounds they were also pretty  interested in astronomy and regularly  employed arithmetic  to catalog the movements of celestial  bodies the discovery of jupiter can be  credited to matthew osendriver from  humboldt university germany  he spent over 13 years studying 2400  year old tablets  containing what he later described as a  small bunch of four weird trapezoid  computations  later it was revealed that the  trapezoids encoded aspects of jupiter's  motion  including its appearance on the horizon  and that is how one of the most  incredible and curiosity-provoking  celestial bodies in the solar system was  discovered  number four the temperature near the  planet's core may be hotter than the sun  itself  it is estimated that the core of jupiter  might be around 43 000 degrees  fahrenheit which is higher than the  temperature of the sun  however aside from the core the surface  of jupiter has an  average temperature of minus 234 degrees  fahrenheit  it is frigid even in its warmest weather  on earth  temperature varies as one moves closer  or farther from the equator  but on jupiter the temperature depends  more on height  above the surface of the planet this  phenomenon is explained by the fact that  heat is driven not by the sun  but by the sizzling hot interior of the  planet since the distance of jupiter  from the sun is around 484 million miles  heat from the star is weak most of the  gases are heated up from the inside of  the planet itself  the convection from the liquid and the  plasma hydrogen beneath the surface  generates a tremendous amount of heat  keeping the gas giant warm enough to  avoid  complete freezing number three you can  even see jupiter with your own eyes  jupiter happens to be the third  brightest object in the entire solar  system  right after venus and the moon there's a  huge possibility that you've seen  jupiter in the sky without even  realizing what you were seeing  when you locate a gleaming star high in  the sky there's a considerable chance  that you're looking at jupiter  grab a pair of binoculars and if you  know someone with a telescope that's  even better  even modest magnification would enable  you to spot tiny specks of light  orbiting it  which are most likely its galilean moons  you could be gazing at exactly what  galileo saw when he located the planet  in 1610 which is pretty fascinating on  its own  number two it has the solar system's  largest planetary atmosphere  composed of 90 hydrogen and 10 helium  jupiter's atmosphere is another source  of interest and curiosity for  astronomers  the gases are in the same composition as  those found in the sun  it also contains other gases including  ammonia methane and water  although these are in much smaller  amounts the atmosphere of jupiter is  distinct in that it lacks a clear lower  boundary  it gradually transitions into the liquid  interior of the planet  from the lowest to the highest the  layers are termed as troposphere  stratosphere thermosphere and exosphere  since the gas giant has no firm surface  to touch down on  the atmosphere itself essentially makes  up the entire planet  number one jupiter is the solar system's  asteroid vacuum cleaner  besides space missions launched from  earth jupiter attracts a lot of visitors  because of its sheer mass and proximity  to the kuiper belt  the belt is a huge region of space  beyond neptune that is packed with  asteroids and dwarf planets  according to astronomers it is estimated  that jupiter experiences at least 200  times more meteorite impacts than earth  we should all be thankful to jupiter for  cleaning the solar system of potentially  hazardous asteroids  that might have come dangerously close  to the earth  in fact some researchers claim that  without jupiter life on earth might have  been obliterated by comets and asteroids  before it even got a chance to begin so  if you're alive today you might want to  take a moment out and be grateful to  this incredible gas giant  planets like jupiter are super rare  though which might explain  why we haven't found concrete evidence  of intelligent life yet