The Jovian Planets

The Jovian Planets

Jupiter

This image of Jupiter was taken on 21 April 2014 by Hubble's Wide Field Camera

Jupiter is the innermost planet of the gas giants. It has a mass of 1.9 x 10²⁷ kg (approx. 318x the mass of Earth) and is 142,800 kilometers (88,736 miles) across the equator. It is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of methane, ammonia, water vapor and other compounds. At great depths within Jupiter, the pressure is so high that the hydrogen atoms are broken up and the electrons are freed so that the resulting atoms consist of bare protons. This produces a state in which the hydrogen becomes metallic. Fluid motions in this metallic conducting layer produce Jupiter's powerful magnetic field.

Jupiter has a very dynamic weather system. Fluid motions are organized by the planet's rapid rotation into a series of dark belts and bright zones around the planet. The visible cloud layers are made of frozen ammonia, while deeper cloud layers are thought to contain ammonium hydrosulfide and water. Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" is a rotating storm system that has been observed for hundreds of years. Jupiter also has a very lean dusty ring that has low opacity and so is difficult to observe.

Jupiter possesses sixty-three known satellites, four of which - Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io - were first discovered by Galileo in 1610 and are commonly referred to as the Galilean Moons.

Saturn

Saturn's mass is 5.688 x 10²⁶ kg (approx. 95x the mass of Earth) and its equatorial diameter is 119,300 kilometers (74,130 miles). Saturn is the only planet less dense than water (about 30 percent less). It has a beautiful, big and rich system of (mostly) icy rings. It has one large moon called Titan and many smaller moons.

Uranus

Uranus' mass is 8.686 x 10²⁵ kg (approx. 14.5x the mass of Earth ). Its equatorial diameter is 51,800 kilometers (32,190 miles). It also has a ring family, five big moons and many smaller moons. Its rotational axis lies near its orbital plane, so it appears at times as if it is rolling on its orbit.

Neptune

Neptune is the outermost planet of the gas giants. Its mass is 1,024 x 10²⁶ kg (approx. 17x the mass of Earth). It has an equatorial diameter of 49,500 kilometers (30,760 miles). It has one large moon, Triton (the coolest known object in our Solar system - around -235 °C) as well as various smaller moons including Nereid. Neptune has four known, very dark rings. Neptune is a Jovian Planet