Jupiter and its moons

1 Chapter 9 of Teach Yourself Planets

David A. Rothery Teach Yourself Planets, Chapter 9, pp. 107-39, Hodder Education, 2000, 2003.

Copyright © David Rothery

In this chapter you will learn:

  • about the largest giant planet in the Solar System: about its dense interior, its deep and dynamic atmosphere, and what happened when it was struck by comet fragments in 1993

  • about Jupiter's slender rings and amazingly diverse family of satellites.

Planetary facts
Equatorial radius (km) 71,492
Mass (relative to Earth) 317.7
Density (g/cm3) 1.33
Surface gravity (relative to Earth) 2.36
Rotation period 9.93 hours
Axial inclination 3.1°
Distance from Sun (AU) 5.20
Orbital period 11.86 years
Orbital eccentricity 0.048
Composition of surface gassy
Mean cloud-top temperature -150°C
Composition of atmosphere hydrogen (90%),
helium (10%),
methane (0.3%),
ammonia (0.03%)
Number of satellites 40 [now estimated to be 63]

At Jupiter, the character of the Solar System takes a new turn. Jupiter is the first of the giant planets, and contains more mass than all other planetary bodies in the Solar System put together. The table below shows some lists some of the key facts about the planet. Its internal structure is compared with that of the other giant planets in Figure 2.5 [figure not included in this course].