JUPITER

Geology of Jupiter

Geology of Jupiter

Introduction

Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, is by far the biggest in the solar system. It is 318 times more massive than Earth, and its diameter of 142,800 km is about 11 times that of Earth. It orbits the Sun one time every 11.9 years at a distance of 778.3 million km. Its rotation period is 0.410 Earth day (about 10 hours). (Schneider 2009)

 

Composition and Structure

Jupiter has a reduced density (1.3 g/cm3), being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Its composition shows that, like the Sun, it formed by gravitational disintegrate of part of the primeval solar nebula. It is so warm that there is no solid surface under the atmosphere, just a stepwise transition from gas to liquid. Jupiter has a rocky centre about 10 to 15 times Earth's mass, enclosed by a massive mantle of fluid metallic hydrogen. Liquid metallic hydrogen comprises of ionized protons and electrons, so it is an electrical conductor. Jupiter's rotation and currents inside the metallic hydrogen central develop a dipolar magnetic area 4000 times more powerful than Earth's. The mantle likely furthermore comprises some helium and finds of water, ammonia, methane, and other organic compounds. (Horia 2007)

 

Clouds

Jupiter has spectacular musicians of clouds extending in hue from white to orange to azure to brown. The vivid colors are considered to outcome from chemical reactions of the find components in Jupiter's atmosphere. The colors correlate with the clouds' altitude: azure smallest, pursued by browns and whites, with reds highest. Sometimes we glimpse the smaller layers through apertures in the upper ones. (McFadden 2006)

Scientists believe that there are three layers of clouds, divided by about 30 km in altitude. The smallest layer is accepted to be made of water ice, the next layer of crystals of a compound of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, and the largest layer of ammonia ice. The prime clouds that we glimpse when we gaze at Jupiter are composed of crystals of iced ammonia. The latest Galileo search, although, discovered no evidence of the smaller layer of water ice clouds.

Winds

Jupiter has high-velocity winds confined in broad musicians of latitude. The winds assault in converse main headings in adjacent bands. Slight chemical and temperature dissimilarities between the musicians are to blame for the very broad, tinted stripes that override the planet's appearance. Data from the Galileo search show that the winds are even much quicker than anticipated (more than 600 km/hr) and continue down as far as the search was adept to observe; they may continue thousands of kilometers into the interior. Jupiter's atmosphere was furthermore discovered to be turbulent, which shows that its winds are propelled mostly by the planet's interior heat other than by solar power as on Earth. (Michtchenko 2001)

Eddies and gales pattern and dissipate, some lasting only a couple of days, other ones much longer. Larger eddies, for example long-lived white locations and the Great Red Spot, last for decades or centuries. These gales endure so long because there is no solid ...