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Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and the fifth farthest from the sun. This gas giant is known for its beautiful cloud bands, a set of thin dust rings, the famous Great Red Spot, and many moons. Jupiter is also the oldest planet in the solar system, having formed 4.6 billion years ago. Read on to learn more about the swirling storms on Jupiter’s surface, the expeditions to explore it and its moons, and the possibility of life around this remote planet.
5 Quick Facts About JupiterHave humans explored Jupiter?
Humans have carried out numerous unmanned missions to study Jupiter and its moons. The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft, launched in March 1972 and April 1973, were the first to fly by Jupiter, collecting data on its powerful radiation belts and taking some early photographs. Then the Voyager 1 and 2 probes, which left Earth in 1977 and reached Jupiter in 1979, collected amazing images and information about the giant planet. They discovered Jupiter’s faint, dusty ring system, volcanic activity on its moon Io, and several previously unknown moons.
NASA's dedicated Jupiter mission, Galileo, began orbiting the massive planet in December 1995. Galileo explored Io and Jupiter's icy moon Europa in detail, and released a probe that plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere. The latest dedicated spacecraft sent to study Jupiter is called Juno, and it has been in orbit since July 2016. Juno flies over the planet's polar regions every 53.5 days, studying its powerful magnetic field and bright auroras, among other things.
In October 2024, NASA launched a probe called Europa Clipper to study the icy moon and its subsurface ocean, which many scientists believe could harbor life. The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, launched in 2023, will also explore Europa, as well as Jupiter's two other large moons, Ganymede and Callisto.
NASA's Galileo probe flew by one of Jupiter's 16 moons in 1989. How many moons does Jupiter have?
Jupiter has 95 known moons, and thousands of other small objects orbit the giant planet. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, larger than the planet Mercury.
Some of Jupiter's other moons are also huge worlds. Callisto has impressive craters and may contain a huge ocean beneath its icy crust. Europa has a similar ice-ocean structure, but its frozen shell is much thinner. And brightly colored Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system.
Could there be life on Jupiter?
Astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan once speculated about the possibility of jellyfish-like organisms that were kept afloat by helium in the atmosphere.
Sourse: www.livescience.com
