Planet Jupiter - Interesting Facts. Interesting facts about planet Jupiter: Let the mysteries of the Universe be less

The largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter. Along with Neptune, Saturn and Uranus, this planet is not classified as a gas giant. Jupiter was known to humanity since the times of ancient civilizations, he found his reflection in religious beliefs and mythology. The name itself comes from the name of the Supreme Bog-Romans of Ancient Rome.

The diameter of this giant is more than 10 times the diameter of our planet, and its volumes are superior to all the planets of our solar system. It will fit 1300 such planets as our. The strength of the attraction of Jupiter is that it can change the trajectory of motion comet, moreover, the read is the result of this celestial body can leave the solar system at all. Magnetic field of the planet Jupiter is also the strongest among all the planets of the system.

It is 14 times bigger by our. Many astronomers tend to believe that this field is created due to the movement of hydrogen inside the giant. Jupiter is a very strong radio source, it can damage any of the existing spacecraft that flew too close.

Despite its huge parameters, Jupiter is the fastest planet of the system of the Sun. For its full rotation, ten o'clock. But in order to fly to the sun giant spends about 12 years.


It is interesting: there is no change of seasons on the planet!
In principle, the giant can be considered as a separate system, such a kind of Jupiter system in the Sun system. The thing is that more than 60 satellites rotate around it. All of them rotate in the opposite direction from the rotation of the planet itself. It is possible that true Satellites of Jupiter rolls over a hundred, but, alas, while they are unknown for scientists. Among all the celestial bodies, rotating around this giant, you can highlight four: Callisto, Io, Europe and Gamorn. All of the above satellites are over our moon at least 1.5 times.


Jupiter has 4 rings. One, most importantly, it appeared due to the collision of the meteorite with 4 satellites of this planet: Metyde, Almaty, Féva and the addressee. Jupiter's rings have one difference: they were not found in them. Relatively recently, scientists have discovered another ring, which is located closer to the planet giant, it got the name of halo.


An amazing fact is that on the planet Jupiter is located a large red spot, which is actually three hundred and fifty years of anticyclone. Perhaps he is even more than we assume. He was opened by astronomer J. Kassini in 1665. He reached his maximum eyelid back: 14 thousand km wide and 40 thousand km long. On the this moment Anticyclone decreased twice. The red stain is a kind of whirlwind, which rotates at a speed of 400-500 km / h counterclockwise.
Earth and Jupiter something like each other. For example, storms on this huge planet do not last long, up to 4 days, and hurricanes are always accompanied by storm and lightning. Of course, the power of these phenomena is much more than we.


It turns out that Jupiter is able to "speak." It makes strange sounds similar to speech, they are also called electromagnetic voices. it strange phenomenon For the first time registered the Nasa-Voyager probe.
Jupiter is a rather strange planet. Scientists cannot accurately answer why natural phenomena behave differently. For example, Jupiter is characterized by one interesting phenomenon - the phenomenon of "hot shadows". The thing is that the temperature is usually lower in the shade lower than on the illuminated areas. However, on this giant where the surface is in the shade, the temperature is higher than in an open-surrounding area. There are many explanations of this anomaly. The most believable theory is the opinion that all the planets absorb most of our empty energy, but a small part is reflected. It turns out that Jupiter on the contrary reflects more heat than getting it from the sun.

On this oddity do not end. Recently, on one of the satellites of Jupiter - IO - volcanic activity was recorded! Eight volcanoes opened on the satellite surface. This news has become a sensation, because anywhere else, there are no volcanoes. On the other satellite - Europe - scientists discovered water, which is under a very thick layer of ice.


Jupiter can rightly be considered the richest planet. According to the calculations of scientists on this giant, there may be a hail of slices of diamond. The fact is that on Jupiter carbon in crystalline forms - is far from uncommon. First, the lightning turn methane into carbon, then it is hardening during the fall and turns into graphite. Falling even lower, graphite eventually becomes a diamond that has yet to fall within 30 thousand km. At the very end, the stones reach such a great depth that the high temperature of the gas giant core melts them and it is possible that the huge ocean of liquid carbon is created inside.


Are there signs of life on Jupiter? Alas, today the presence of life on this planet is unlikely, because in the atmosphere a low water concentration and a solid surface in principle is absent.
Re-reading the above facts, it seems that this is not all sensations, the most interesting waiting for us ahead. Many researchers and scientists believe that life is quite possible on Jupiter. The atmosphere of this giant is very similar to our atmosphere in the distant past. Therefore, it seems, this is not the last article and this is not the latest facts that we still have to consider.

In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the Supreme God, the Lord of Lightning and Thunder. Planet Jupiter is not only the largest in the solar system, but also one of the most mysterious, many riddles of which scientists cannot solve today. In our review, a dozen more interesting facts about "Gaza Giant", which is the fifth planet from the sun.

1. Jupiter might be a star

In 1610, Galilee opened Jupiter and his four main satellites: Europe, Io, Callisto and Gamorn, who are today known as "Galilean satellites." It was the first time in history, when people watched any other celestial body in the solar system, besides the moon. Also, the opening of Galilee provided excellent support For Polish astronoma Nikolai Copernicus and its theory, that the Earth is not the center of the Universe.

The mass of the largest planet in the solar system is twice the mass of the rest of the other bodies in the solar system, combined (not counting the sun). Jupiter's atmosphere is very similar to the star and consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. Scientists believe that if Jupiter had been about 80 times more, he would turn into a star. Now it is essentially a miniature solar system with its 4 huge satellites and 63 smaller. Jupiter is so massive that it is 1300 times more land.

2. Big red spot

Magnificent stripes on Jupiter (who probably saw every person) are caused by constant strong windsthat blow at speeds up to 650 kilometers per hour. White cloud zones in upper layers The atmosphere consists of frozen and crystallized ammonia. Dark clouds that contain other chemicals are located in the middle layers of the atmosphere, and the blue clouds are observed on the deepest visible atmospheric layers.

Most of all, Jupiter stands out a giant super storm called a large red spot, which is raging for 300 years. Rotating counterclockwise Large red stain in three more times more than the diameter of the Earth. The wind in its center develops speed up to 450 kilometers per hour. A large red stain is constantly changing in size, and sometimes it even seems that it disappears, but after that returns.

3. Incredible magnetic field of Jupiter

Due to the magnetic field, which is almost 20 thousand times stronger than that of the earth, Jupiter can be considered a real "magnetic king" of our planetary system. Jupiter catches and attracts electrically charged particles, which continuously bombard the system, with a radiation level of 1000 times more than the fatal level for a person. This radiation is so intense that it can damage even the most highly shielded NASA spacecraft, such as Galileo probe.

Jupiter has a magnetosphere that extends to stunning 1 - 3 million kilometers in the direction of the Sun, and also stretches like a tail, behind a gas giant flying around the sun around the sun, on ... 1 billion kilometers.

4. Mad wolf

Jupiter, despite his gigantic sizes, makes a complete turn around its axis less than 10 hours (compared with 24 hours in the case of land). Being a gaseous planet, Jupiter does not rotate as a solid planet, similar to Earth. Instead, it rotates a little faster at the equator than in the polar regions (with an average speed of 50,000 kilometers per hour or 27 times faster than the Earth). Therefore, the day on Jupiter lasts 9 hours and 56 minutes on both poles and 9 hours and 50 minutes in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Planet Giant. This extremely rapid rotation leads to the fact that the Jupiter is more convex at the equator and flattened on the poles.

5. Jupiter - the largest radio in the solar system

Another area in which Jupiter is allocated is the "explosions" of powerful natural radio waves, which produces this planet, creating terrible noises when receiving a radio transmission of short-wave radio stations on Earth. These radio wave emissions are naturally generated by an unstable plasma in the gas giant magnetosphere. When they were first discovered by earth scientists, these radio waves caused a real stir, because they were counted by the negotiations of aliens.

Most astrophysicists suggest that ionized gases upper layers The atmosphere of Jupiter and its magnetic poles sometimes act as a very strong radio laser, producing so intensive radiation that the gas giant often overshadows the sun as a source of radio waves. Scientists believe that the power of this phenomenon is somehow connected with the volcanic satellite of the IO.

6. Rings of Jupiter

NASA scientists were surprised when in 1979 the spacecraft Voyager-1 found three rings around the Equator Jupiter. These rings are much weaker than the rings of Saturn and their simplicity was not visible from the ground. The main ring is about 30 kilometers in thickness and 6,000 kilometers wide, and a flat inner ring-cloud called "ring-halo", in thickness is about 20,000 km. And the main ring and halo consist of small dark particles. The third ring, also known as the "spider", in fact, is three rings consisting of microscopic debris of three satellites of Jupiter - Adrasthei, FIV and Amaltei.

7. Planet defender

As Jupiter is the biggest celestial body in the solar system (except the sun), his gravitational forcesmay have helped in the formation of the literally the rest of the solar system. According to the study published in the journal Nature, Jupiter, perhaps "pushed" Uranus and Neptune into modern orbits of these planets. And according to an article published in the journal Science, Jupiter, along with Saturn, may also "postponed" a huge amount of garbage on the internal planets during the early history of the solar system.

Also, scientists are now almost confident that the gas giant holds back some asteroids, "not letting them" to the ground. Current data show that the gravitational field of Jupiter has strong influence For many asteroids.

8. The giant of Jupiter and the Little Earth core is the same size

Scientists suggest that the inner core of Jupiter is 10 times less than the entire planet Earth A consists of it most likely from liquid metal hydrogen. The diameter of the earth is slightly less than 13,000 kilometers, so the Jupiter's core should be slightly less than 1,300 km in the diameter. This makes its size comparable to the size of the Earth's core, which is believed to be about 1,200 kilometers in diameter.

9. Atmosphere of Jupiter: a dream for a chemist and a nightmare for everyone else

The composition of the atmosphere of Jupiter mainly is a mixture of 89.2 percent of molecular hydrogen and 10.2 percent of helium. The rest of the atmosphere consists of trace amounts of ammonia, deuteride hydrogen, methane, ethane, water, ammonia Ice., frozen water and ammonia hydro-sulfide aerosols. Because of the magnetic field, 20,000 times stronger than that of the Earth, a huge gas giant has a dense inner core from (at present) an unknown composition, which is completely surrounded by a thick layer of enriched helium and liquid metal hydrogen.

10. Satellite of Jupiter Callisto - Heavenly Body with the greatest number Craterics

Callisto is the farthest of the four "Galilean satellites", which rotates around the gas giant for about a week. Since his orbit is beyond the limits of Jupiter's radiation belt, Callo less suffers from tidal effects than any other Galilean satellite.

Diameter Callisto is 5,000 kilometers, i.e., this satellite is approximately equal to the Mercury planet. After Gamed and Titan, Callisto is the third largest satellite in the solar system (IO is the fourth, and the moon is the fifth). The average temperature on the surface of Callisto is -139 degrees Celsius. And it is unusual to Callisto, that its surface is literally dressed with craters.

Jupiter is perhaps one of the most interesting and mysterious planets of our solar system. This planet was familiar to people from deep antiquity, mentioned in the scriptures of the wise men of those times, and also influenced the formation of mythology and religious beliefs of various cultures - Babylonian, Greek, Mesopotamian and others. website Prepared you some interesting facts about Jupiter, this amazing planet-giant.

1. Where is Jupiter and what is it famous?

Jupiter - the fifth of the sun planet, located between Mars and Saturn. In addition, he is the largest planet of our solar system. So that it can be clearly presenting its volume - imagine our land multiplied by 1300, and increase the diameter 11 times! It is hard to imagine? Also, Jupiter is heavier than Earth, 317 times, and gravity on it exceeds the earthly 2.5 times. That ordinary is a man weighing in 70 kilograms weighing there at least 170 kg! The force of attraction of this planet is so great that it could well change the orbit flying by the comet. For example, in 1992, a comet was approximately 15 thousand km approximately 15 thousand km. The powerful gravitational field of the planet managed to break her kernel and the comet itself on 17 fragments.

2. How fast is Jupiter rotate?

Another interesting fact about Jupiter is that it is the fastest planet of our solar system. For a full turn around its axis, it takes only 10 hours. The causes of such rapid rotation are the magnetic field and radiation around the planet. However, to make a full turn around the Sun, he will need as many as 12 years.

Speaking about the magnetic floor, it is worth adding that Jupiter is also the strongest in our solar system. It is 14 times more than on Earth. And the radiation emitted by Jupiter is as strong, which is capable of even damaging the spacecraft that takes too close to it.

3. How many satellites are Jupiter?

Jupiter is also famous for his a huge number satellites. From the currently studied planets, it has the greatest amount of their number - 63. And this is only today. At the same time, scientists do not cease to express assumptions that they may be at least 100. The bulk of satellites has a diameter of 2-4 kilometers, that is, they are relatively small. The 4 most famous satellites of Jupiter is: IO, Gamornad, Europe and Callisto and were open to Galileo Galileem. Gamorn is the largest of all famous satellites, its diameter is 5262 km, the duration of rotation around Jupiter is 7 days. And satellite IO will replace the harsh volcanoes and mountains located on it.

4. What is Jupiter?

Jupiter is a giant, practically fully consisting of their helium and hydrogen. But, it also has a solid core. The atmosphere of the planet consists mainly of hydrogen and helium: in volume, their amount is respectively 89% and 11%, and by weight - 80% and 20%. Thus, Jupiter recalls the Sun chemical composition. Jupiter's atmosphere has a slightly orange colorwhich gives it compounds of phosphorus and sulfur, as well as ammonia and acetylene.

5. What is this red spot on Jupiter?

The first who drew attention to the big red spot on Jupiter was Giovanni Cassini, and it happened in 1665. The stain looks like a giant hurricane-anticyclone and a hundred years ago it had a length of 40 thousand kilometers. However, in our time, its sizes decreased by half. This red spot is actually a huge atmospheric whirlwind, the largest in the solar system. It rotates counterclockwise and its speed is about 435 km / h.

6. Do Jupiter are happening?

The storms on Jupiter are quite frequent phenomenon. Jupiter is surrounded by dense gas clouds, and its atmosphere consists of light and dark zones separated by rapid vortex flows. Wind speed in some of them is about 540 km / h. But usually storms will not last more than 3-4 days. Although sometimes they can continue for months. Such hurricanes are always accompanied by lightning and much terrible storms that can be encountered on Earth. Especially strong hurricanes occur every 15-17 years and eat everything in their path.

7. Are there any rings from Jupiter?

It has always been believed that the rings are only at Saturn, which they are known. However, in 1979, the discovery was made, hitting scientists - Jupiter also have! Another striking fact about Jupiter! For a long time Their origin remained a mystery, but the Space Actuate of Galilee, who was at the orbit of Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, managed to obtain data about it. It turned out that rings are the result of a collision of meteor bodies with small satellites of Jupiter. As a result of the strike in the orbit of Jupiter ejected large quantities Dirt and dust, thereby forming a rings. Now there are 4 rings of Jupiter. The most important one of them is left after the collision of meteorites with 4 satellites (Féva, Metide, Adraty and Almaty).

8. Is there any life on Jupiter?

Currently, scientists practically eliminate the possibility of living on Jupiter in view of the low water concentration in the atmosphere and the absence of a solid surface. Although in the 70s, American astronomer Karl Sagan expressed guesses about the possibility of living in the upper layers of the atmosphere, this fact was not proved. However, there is a chance of having a water-hydrocarbon life on Jupiter, since the temperature of the atmosphere and pressure containing clouds from a water vapor is very favorable.

Now you know the main facts about this amazing and mysterious planet. We hope that interesting Facts Jupiter will add a little new to your knowledge about the Great and Infinite Universe.

Jupiter is the largest planet of the solar system. He is a gas giant, along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Jupiter has the longest contact with astronomers, because its huge size and brightness allow you to see it with a naked eye. Interesting facts about the big planet are sufficient for the whole encyclopedia, just some of them.

Jupiter got its name more than 2 thousand years ago

The Romans called the planet in honor of their Supreme God of Jupiter, who was an analogous to the Greek Zeus. The Romans successfully hit, calling the largest and most striking planet of our system with the name of the strongest deity.

Jupiter was not the only heavenly object called the ancient Romans. The names of some stars were so accustomed that the planets discovered after the fall of the empire were named, according to tradition, in honor of the Roman gods.

Mass of Jupiter 2.5 times the most other planets of the solar system combined

The most well-known fact about the planet Jupiter is giant! She is 2.5 times harder than seven other planets! We know it, and we are amazed, but this is not the most interesting. When Jupiter only formed as a planet, it was twice as bigger and harder. Chemical reactions inside the planet make it shrink and lose 2 cm volume per year.

Despite the fact that the planet decreases in volume, it does not lose weight and is still huge. Equator Jupiter is approximately 400 thousand kilometers. The only thing that he lacks is to compile competition (albeit a small) sun - additional mass. But our system could become a two-star.

Jupiter highlights the same energy as it gets from the sun

Although he is not a star, but shines brightly. Thanks to all the same chemical processes inside the planet, Jupiter highlights a huge amount of heat, as much as it gets from the sun. The processes inside the Jupiter differ from the nuclear energy of the Sun, but still the ancient Romans were not lost with the title. Very often, scientists call Jupiter "failed star."

Jupiter rotates very quickly

The most voluminous and massive planet is also the fastest, oddly enough. While the Earth completes the rotation around its axis in 24 hours, Jupiter takes 10. Because of such rapid rotation at the planet's equator, there was a bulge, large enough to consider in a telescope. Because of this belt, the circle of Jupiter is slightly flashed.

Jupiter volume 1000 times more land

The extension of the equator of our planet is slightly over 40 thousand km, while the volume of Jupiter is exactly 1000 times more. This planet is greater from the gases. The main components of Jupiter are helium and hydrogen in the stars. According to scientists, Jupiter reached the maximum volume and mass, which allow him to remain a planet without turning into a star.

Jupiter's core Unknown

Most scientists agree that the core of the largest planet consists of solids, but it is not known what materials these are. Slim data on the size and mass of the nucleus of Jupiter is 10 times harder and one and a half times more than the Earth. As for exact chemical composition Jupiter and especially his kernel, today we do not possess technologies, quite developed in order to determine it.

Big red stain

One of the first Anomalies of Jupiter observed with the help of a telescope turned out to be a large stain of red color, known to astronomers since the end of the XVII century. For the first time he saw Robert Guk in 1664.

For hundreds of years, this phenomenon very intrigued scientists, and in 1979 spaceship Voyageri found the answer to the question. In fact, a big red spot is a huge long hurricane, raging for hundreds of years. Hurricane, the size of several times greater than the Earth!

In 2000, scientists observed the development of another interesting phenomenon - three small white spots were connected to one hurricane, which changed its color to red. Scientists called him a small red spot.

Jupiter also has rings

Saturn is not the only planet that surrounds the rings of cosmic dust and small particles. In addition to information about the Red Spot, Voyager I brought another no less remarkable fact - Jupiter has 4 rings. The closest to the surface is called a nimble, or halo, the average - the main one, and the two extreme - gas or spider rings. According to the versions of scientists, dust and particles of the rings remained in the gravitational field of Jupiter after the collisions of its numerous satellites with other celestial bodies.

Jupiter blows a strong wind

It is not surprising, given that hurricanes of gigantic sizes continue on this planet of the centuries. On the surface of Jupiter is always very windy. For the Earth, these are the winds of the most destructive tornado, they can reach 300 kilometers per hour.

Galileo opened the main satellites of Jupiter in 1610

According to scientists, Jupiter 67 satellites, and this inaccurate data, according to some versions, there may be more than a hundred. All satellites are divided into two groups - internal and external. The domestic only eight.

His biggest moon - Io, Europe, Callisto and Gamorn, today they are called internal Galilean satellites. They first discovered and called Galileo back in the distant 1610. It is believed that the Italian genius was the first person who considered the satellites of other planets to the telescope.

Jupiter has not once played a decisive role for modern astronomy. He was the subject of closely studying such astronomer scientists, like Cassini and Borelli, and also served as the main proof of Copernicus theory. Thanks to observations of Jupiter's companions and their shadows, scientists were able to calculate the speed of light.