Weekly Planet Discussion: Jupiter!

[Maji]

Was full of melancholy, and busy last week, but here it is~

As expected, Saturn's poll was in the favour of fabularity in its finest; most people, with the exception of one person loves Saturn.

[spoiler=Disclaimer]I am no astronomer. merely a fan of space. If I say something dumb, incorrect, or outright out of this world [solar system], you reserve the right to call me out on it, so I can learn about proper shit and be smarter, cause that's what we all aim to do, right?

So this week, we talk about:

General Riff-Raff

Jupiter- the jolly ball of clouds and scary lightning! And if you didn't know it was the biggest planet in the solar system, go read a fucking book or pay attention in class more. Although it is basically a sphere of gas, it has the biggest impact of all the planets, thanks to its size in the context of having a massive orbit range, which keeps asteroids in line, preventing them from going all out in a fantastic derby across the inner solar system, eventually crashing into Earth. Furthermore, Jupiter is also known to pull asteroids into itself, disintegrating them in the planet itself, so if Earth owes anyone a thanks, it's definitely Jupiter for taking so many bullets for it. Unlike Uranus and Neptune, and even Saturn a little, Jupiter does not have a clean, cloud system; as shown, while it does have a band formation, it's riddled with rebellious storms which makes it nowhere as neat as Saturn's very clean bands. Being closer to the sun than other gas giants, Jupiter is able to radiate the heat from the sun much better than the other gas giants, as well as having a massive core to further heat up the giant planet. As a result, you get all these storms and chaotic formations all over Jupiter. While we're on the topic of the sun, because Jupiter spins so fast, it has a very strong magnetic field, which so much radiation is deflected off this bad boy, that anything "close" (in Jupiter range of closeness) is perpetually covered in radiation. Of course, I can assume you all know about the Earth sized Great Red Spot, which is Jupiter's fiercest storm that is proven to have been raging for hundreds of years, and probably will continue to do so for quite a long time. The clouds, as most of them in the solar system do so, produce lightning, which is jolly ol' Jove's speciality. Scientists figure that the average bolt of lightning is about 10x the size of an Earth lightning, which one can probably try imagining what a severe bolt of lightning looks like on Jupiter!

Myths n' Shit

Before we discuss the moons, we first talk about the concept of a gas giant in detail, as I do not think I have done so yet. So, what is in Jupiter, if I were big enough to thrust my hand through Jupiter, would it go through and out? For one to understand this question, one must factor in the solid core, which interestingly enough, is thought to be still solid even though it's under so much pressure from the mass of the planet. Although we haven't the foggiest clue to what near the core would look like, we figure that under so much pressure from all the gasses piled up on Jupiter, the core would be a whole other world beyond human thought. The gravity would no doubt be so unbearable that anything near it would sort of turn into Jupiter soup, but why isn't the core (thought not to be) soup? There are many speculations about this, however, no one has really come up with a full proof answer. Descending into a gas giant would most likely start with normal clouds of whatever the planet hosts, then as you go further, things start getting more dense and hotter until things start turning mushy, and you yourself become mush from the pressure, becoming one with the planet. And for that, people usually like to focus on the moons of gas giants, as they don't turn astronauts into planet soup. While we're talking about moons, Jupiter hosts a very interesting moon: Europa. While no doubt, the other moons are worth discussing, Europa gets special attention in the way that it may be a water world, yes, a world of boundless ocean! The ocean of Europa (covered under thick layers of ice) is thought to exist because the heat Jupiter radiates could possibly be hot enough to melt water ice, which Europa is made out of. Furthermore, Europa's core may also help with internal heating, so mayhap Enceladus isn't the only moon that could have life in it, if it could survive Jupiter's fuck off radiation?

Take Your Anti-Radiation Pills Kids, Because We're Checking Out Jupiter!

I probably should have discussed the interior of a gas giant here, but eh, too late. Of course, much like the other gas giants, playing around in the storms is always fun, but Neptune and Jupiter are the best place for storm lovers to go. If you really want to see a storm, then the Big Red Spot is your haven. As I already discussed, the Big Red Spot has been there for awhile, and will continue to rebelliously spin retrograde from its belt for a long time. the Big Red Spot is thought to be an industrial sized Earthen cyclone which turned badass thanks to the lack of solid surface, and having so much atmosphere to create a cyclone. Other things one can view on the planet itself is its aurora borealis, which are no doubt huge thanks to the combination of being close (in juxtaposition to the other gas giants, of course) to the sun, being huge, and having a large magnetic field.

In regards to the moon, if you bring your drill, you can go for a dip in the possible Europa ocean, as well as look at Io, a Luna sized moon, but oh so different. While Luna is calm, Io is basically a Triton on steroids, covered in volcanoes that are active, and constantly changing its face, with the spew. Callisto is also on the list of to-do's, being like Europa with the potential oceans, but traced with ammonia, bigger, and better looking, IMO. Finally, Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, and another potential ocean under its surface, but it actually has a magnetic field to protect itself from Jupiter. There's also 63 other moons that one can check out, but no way am I going to talk about them, it's already Friday where I live and I'm already a week late on this thread as it is.

Conclusion

As I said in the Saturn thread, Jupiter has basically everything anyone is interested in, potential life in its moons, geological hotspot on Io, potential oceans of water in three of its moons, massive everything, making it easy to look at stuff, and even a ring system, albeit even more faint than Neptune's. Although Neptune and Saturn reign supreme on my list of planets, Jupiter, no doubt has its place high up there, as what's not to like on a planet that has it all and keeps Earth life alive from being dinosaur'd constantly?

I feel Holst nailed this piece right on, Jupiter is indeed jolly, my favourite part is the bouncy trombone soli right after the fanfare, I can see an animated beaming with smiles Jupiter jumping happily with all the bright stars twinkling. Also, the slow string part, I love it because I played that part in grade 6 band, as well as it makes a great shot at showing that apart from being happy Jupiter, it's also absolutely stunning to look at.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Maji

[Zanarkin]

Jupiter is pretty darn nice. I watched a documentary before and it said that the core would likely be made of mostly hydrogen. They conducted some tests during which hydrogen was placed under intense pressures and they discovered that it started to gain metallic properties. So in the core of Jupiter there may just be a metallic hydrogen core.

Europa is also really interesting. I can just imagine how exciting it would be to send a probe there to find out if there is water and life or not in side the moon. Imagine the tension while the probe makes its way through the ice...

I once saw Jupiter through my telescope. Although it isn't very high powered, i could see some of the bands and some of the moons of Jupiter. It was really cool :3 .

[Phoenix Wright]

Jupiter is pretty darn nice. I watched a documentary before and it said that the core would likely be made of mostly hydrogen. They conducted some tests during which hydrogen was placed under intense pressures and they discovered that it started to gain metallic properties. So in the core of Jupiter there may just be a metallic hydrogen core.

Europa is also really interesting. I can just imagine how exciting it would be to send a probe there to find out if there is water and life or not in side the moon. Imagine the tension while the probe makes its way through the ice...

I once saw Jupiter through my telescope. Although it isn't very high powered, i could see some of the bands and some of the moons of Jupiter. It was really cool :3 .

Ah, I wanted to mention this! :P

A small correction, though. It's not that the core is thought to be made of metallic-hydrogen (which, under similar severe environments, hydrogen turned to liquid, then with further pressure began to have some metallic properties), the liquid-metallic hydrogen would be a relatively small layer, a couple hundred miles thick, then you'd hit the solid, rocky core. Do you remember what the documentary was titled?

Jupiter is awesome because it's our body guard, has a storm bigger than Earth, and is the 'god' of the planets.

[tenkiforecast]

I would imagine that scientists studying extra-terrestrial meteorology would find Jupiter interesting. At least for lightning, outside of that I don't know. My experience is limited to Earth. I really don't know any astronomers, so I can't say much.

[Zanarkin]

Ah, I wanted to mention this! :P

A small correction, though. It's not that the core is thought to be made of metallic-hydrogen (which, under similar severe environments, hydrogen turned to liquid, then with further pressure began to have some metallic properties), the liquid-metallic hydrogen would be a relatively small layer, a couple hundred miles thick, then you'd hit the solid, rocky core. Do you remember what the documentary was titled?

It was like 1-2 years ago... I have no memory of names... Lots of space documentaries around that time, it was glorious. They possibly still have the same amounts of documentaries around i just don't have the channels (National Geographic and Science channel) anymore :(

Edited August 25, 2012 by SlayerX

[Phoenix Wright]

It was like 1-2 years ago... I have no memory of names... Lots of space documentaries around that time, it was glorious. They possibly still have the same amounts of documentaries around i just don't have the channels (National Geographic and Science channel) anymore :(

Have I got news for you! You probably know about it already though.

The Science Channel is pretty much reduced to "How It's Made" and the occasional "Through the Wormhole" (which I don't particularly get to enjoy the god-like narrative of Morgan Freeman because I've already seen every episode I'm able to of "The Universe"). I also do not get NatGeo, unfortunately.

[Zanarkin]

Have I got news for you! You probably know about it already though.

The Science Channel is pretty much reduced to "How It's Made" and the occasional "Through the Wormhole" (which I don't particularly get to enjoy the god-like narrative of Morgan Freeman because I've already seen every episode I'm able to of "The Universe"). I also do not get NatGeo, unfortunately.

I think it might have been the documentary might have been The Universe but I'm not entirely sure on that.

Also, noi did not know about that Cosmos show mostly because while I enjoy the subject I suck at following it unless its laid right in front (like tv) of me Ugh lazyness. I should sign up to stuff on the internet. To the googlemobile!.