Secrets of the planet Jupiter. The mysteries of Jupiter will be solved. Could life develop on Jupiter's Europa?

It is probably difficult to imagine conditions more different for an earthly inhabitant than those existing on planets like Jupiter. If, looking at Mars, one can imagine that millions of years ago its dusty surface could have been covered with forests and oceans, then there is no need to talk about the presence of at least some similarity between the Earth and the gas giants. Celestial bodies of this class are extremely difficult to study, so the structure and composition of Jupiter largely remains a mystery that humanity is trying to understand, relying on fragmentary knowledge accumulated through long and painstaking work.

When they talk about Jovian clouds, the imagination tries to paint completely earthly pictures with white “lambs” peacefully running away beyond the horizon or, at worst, dark purple thunderclouds gradually covering the sky. Both are far from reality. According to scientists, what an earthly observer perceives as the “surface” of the planet is icy ammonia vapor that tightly enveloped Jupiter. Below are crystals of ammonium hydrogen sulfide, and even deeper are frozen water crystals. The latter can also be present in the liquid phase in the form of a fine dispersion. This whole “layer cake” tightly closes the planet from the observer, and one can only guess about what is happening below.

Hurricanes in the atmosphere

Hurricanes raging in the atmosphere of Jupiter at speeds of over 600 km/h, and turbulent flows and vortices rising from below, mix cloud masses, drawing bizarre pictures in the form of stripes and spots. The movement of flows in the atmosphere of a gas giant, unlike the Earth, is fueled by the internal energy of the planet, therefore the resulting patterns have fairly stable geometric dimensions, changing slightly during the period of their observation.

Great red spot

The nature of these phenomena has been studied very poorly, and at the moment there is no single coherent theory explaining the appearance and long-term existence of stripes and spots in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

Modern ideas about the structure and composition of Jupiter

An artist’s drawing depicting the release of a probe into the atmosphere of Jupiter by the Galileo spacecraft; on the right, the artist drew the release of the probe’s protective heat shield

Most scientists are inclined to think that the giant of the solar system consists of an atmosphere, a core and an intermediate layer. The main chemical elements present on Jupiter are hydrogen and helium. But the results of the Galileo spacecraft mission, which dropped a probe on the planet at the end of 1995, also confirmed the presence of argon, krypton, carbon and nitrogen, and a number of other gases. The outer layer of the giant's atmosphere is formed by hydrogen gas, in the middle - helium is added (in a ratio of 1 to 9), and in the lower layer - ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide and water, which form the cloud cover of the planet.

Metallic hydrogen

Below is an “ocean” consisting of metallic hydrogen. This chemical element can take on this structure under the influence of high pressures and temperatures. The idea of ​​metallic hydrogen is purely theoretical and it has not yet been possible to obtain it in laboratory conditions. According to scientists, it is a superfluid and superconducting liquid capable of forming at pressures of the order of a million atmospheres. It is assumed that after the pressure is removed, the properties of the resulting structure can be preserved.

The thickness of such a liquid metal layer of the planet is estimated at 42–46 thousand km. The presence of liquid helium in it cannot be ruled out. There is no clear boundary between the atmosphere and the layer of metallic hydrogen, but there is a border turbulent zone, 7–25 thousand km thick, in which a change in the phase state of this chemical element occurs.

Planet core

The dimensions of Jupiter's core are estimated to be approximately 1.5 times the diameter of the Earth, and the temperature and pressure in it reach 30,000 K and 100 million atmospheres. It is assumed that it consists of various metals and silicates, and its mass is approximately 10–15 Earth's. Thanks to the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism, such a core is capable of providing heat to the processes occurring in the upper layers of the planet, feeding them with energy accumulated during compression.

Four scientific articles on the findings of the Juno mission. Let me remind you that since the summer of 2016 this device has been in orbit around Jupiter. The main task of Juno is to study the internal structure of the gas giant and its magnetosphere.

The data collected by Juno suggests that Jupiter's gravitational field is asymmetrical in the north-south direction. Researchers attribute this fact to the movement of gas flows in the planet’s atmosphere. Streams at Jupiter's north and south poles can carry different masses of matter, which explains the unevenness of the gravitational field.

Juno also managed to measure the depth of Jupiter's famous cloud belts, which can be seen even with an amateur telescope. Measurements showed that their thickness is about 3,000 km. Cloud belts account for about 1% of the gas giant's mass. This is more than three times the mass of the Earth. For comparison, the earth's atmosphere accounts for only 1/1,000,000 of the mass of our planet.

Due to Jupiter's rapid rotation period (about 10 hours), the planet's cloud belts are shaped like nested cylinders. Below 3000 km, atmospheric flows are destroyed. They may be slowed down by Jupiter's strong magnetic field. Juno data suggests that below this mark the nature of rotation of the planet’s substance already corresponds to a solid body.

Another amazing discovery relates to the poles of Jupiter. Using the JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper) instrument, Juno obtained infrared images of atmospheric formations located 50 to 70 km below the planet's cloud cover. It turned out that the north pole of Jupiter is dominated by a central cyclone, surrounded by eight smaller cyclones with diameters ranging from 4000 to 4600 km. Together they form a figure reminiscent of an octagon. There is also a dominant central cyclone at the south pole. Around it there are five cyclones with a diameter of 5600 to 7000 km, forming a pentagonal figure.

Computer images showing the structure of cyclones at Jupiter's north and south poles

Cyclones drift very slowly around the poles and, despite being close to each other, maintain amazing stability, without breaking up or merging together. According to scientists, they have not observed anything like this on any other planet in the solar system.

To date, Juno has completed 10 of its intended 12 science orbits around Jupiter. The next time the station will approach the gas giant is on April 1. According to the plan, after completing its main scientific program, the device should be deorbited and sent into the planet’s atmosphere. This event could take place as early as this summer. But given the good technical condition of the station and the data it collected, it is possible that NASA will decide to extend the Juno mission.

In ancient Roman mythology, Jupiter is identified with the Greek Zeus. He is often called the "god father" or "father of gods." Jupiter was the son of Saturn, the brother of Neptune and the sister of Juno, who was also his wife. In turn, the planet Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.

Ironically, a spacecraft called Juno was sent to Jupiter for “matchmaking.” And while the probe is yet to reveal many of the secrets of its “narrowed” one, we will consider several already known facts about this gas giant.

Jupiter could become a star

In 1610, Galileo discovered Jupiter and its four largest moons: Europa, Io, Callisto and Ganymede, which are today called the Galilean moons. This was the first time a space object was observed orbiting a planet. Previously, observations were carried out only of the Moon orbiting the Earth. Later, thanks to this observation, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus gave weight to his theory that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. This is how the heliocentric model of the world appeared.

Being the largest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter has a mass that is 2 times greater than the mass of all other planets in the Solar System. Jupiter's atmosphere is more like that of a star than a planet, and consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. Scientists agree that if the reserves of these elements were 80 times greater, then Jupiter would turn into a real star. And with four main moons and many (67 in total) smaller satellites, Jupiter itself is almost a miniature copy of its own solar system. This planet is so huge that it would take more than 1,300 Earth-sized planets to fill the volume of this gas giant.

The amazing coloring of Jupiter consists of light and dark belt zones, which, in turn, are caused by constant powerful winds blowing from east to west at a speed of 650 km per hour. Areas of light clouds in the upper atmosphere contain frozen, crystallized ammonia particles. Darker clouds contain different chemical elements. These climatic features are constantly changing and never remain for long intervals.

Besides the fact that Jupiter often rains real diamonds, another famous feature of this gas giant is its huge red spot. This spot is a giant hurricane rotating counterclockwise. The size of this hurricane is almost three times the diameter of the Earth. The wind speed at the center of the hurricane reaches 450 km per hour. The giant red spot is constantly changing in size, sometimes increasing and becoming even brighter, sometimes decreasing and becoming dimmer.

Amazing magnetic field

The strength of Jupiter's magnetic field is almost 20,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. Jupiter can rightfully be considered the king of the magnetic fields of our planetary system. The planet is surrounded by an incredible field of electrically charged particles, which non-stop bombard other planets in the solar system. Moreover, the level of radiation near Jupiter is up to 1,000 times higher than lethal for humans. The radiation density is so strong that it can damage even well-protected spacecraft.

The magnetosphere of Jupiter has a length from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 km towards the Sun and up to 1 billion km towards the outer boundaries of the system.

Jupiter - the king of rotation

It takes Jupiter only about 10 hours to complete a full rotation on its axis. Days on Jupiter range from 9 hours 56 minutes at both poles to 9 hours 50 minutes in the equatorial zone of the gas giant. As a result of this feature, the planet's equatorial zone is 7 percent wider than its polar regions.

As a gas giant, Jupiter does not orbit as a single solid spherical object, such as the Earth. Instead, the planet rotates slightly faster in the equatorial zone and slightly slower in the polar zone. The total rotation speed is about 50,000 km per hour, which is 27 times faster than the rotation speed of the Earth.

The largest source of radio waves

Another amazing feature of Jupiter is how powerful the radio waves it emits are. Jupiter's radio noise even affects shortwave antennas here on Earth. Radio waves that are not audible to the human ear can take on some very bizarre audio signals from being picked up by terrestrial radio equipment.

Most often, these radio emissions are produced as a result of instability of the plasma field in the magnetosphere of the gas giant. Often these noises cause a stir among ufologists, who believe that they have caught signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. Most astrophysicists theorize that the ion gases above Jupiter and its magnetic fields sometimes behave like very powerful radio lasers, producing radiation so dense that at times Jupiter's radio signals exceed the power of short-wave radio signals from the Sun. Scientists believe that this special power of radio emission is somehow connected with the volcanic moon Io.

NASA was very surprised when the Voyager 1 spacecraft discovered three rings around Jupiter's equator in 1979. These rings are much fainter than the rings of Saturn, and therefore cannot be detected using ground-based equipment.

The main ring is flat and is about 30 km thick and about 6,000 km wide. The inner ring - even more rarefied and often referred to as a halo - is about 20,000 km thick. The halo of this inner ring practically reaches the outer boundaries of the planet's atmosphere. However, both rings consist of tiny dark particles.

The third ring is even more transparent than the other two and is called the “web ring”. It consists mainly of dust that accumulates around the four moons of Jupiter: Adrastea, Metis, Amalthea and Thebe. The radius of the web ring reaches about 130,000 km. Planetologists believe that the rings of Jupiter, like Saturn, could have been formed as a result of collisions of numerous space objects, such as asteroids and comets.

Defender of the Planets

Since Jupiter is the second largest (the first place belongs to the Sun) space objects in the solar system, its gravitational forces most likely participated in the final formation of our system and probably even allowed the emergence of life on our planet.

According to the study, Jupiter may once have pulled Uranus and Neptune to their current positions in the system. A study published in the journal Science suggests that Jupiter, with the participation of Saturn, at the dawn of the solar system attracted enough material to form the planets of the inner boundary.

In addition, scientists are confident that the gas giant is a kind of shield against asteroids and comets, reflecting them from other planets. Jupiter's gravitational field affects many asteroids and changes their orbits. Thanks to this, many of these objects do not fall on planets, including our Earth. These asteroids are called "Trojan asteroids". Three of them, the largest, are known under the names of Hector, Achilles and Agamemnon and are named after the heroes of Homer’s Iliad, which describes the events of the Trojan War.

The core size of Jupiter and Earth is the same

Scientists are firmly convinced that Jupiter's inner core is 10 times smaller than the entire planet Earth. At the same time, there is an assumption that up to 80-90 percent of the diameter of the core is accounted for by liquid metallic hydrogen. If we consider that the diameter of the Earth is about 13,000 km, then the diameter of Jupiter's core should be about 1,300 km. And this, in turn, puts it on par with the radius of the inner solid core of the Earth, which is also about 1,300 km.

Atmosphere of Jupiter. A chemist's dream or nightmare?

Jupiter's atmospheric composition includes 89.2 percent molecular hydrogen and 10.2 percent helium. The remaining percentage includes reserves of ammonia, deuterium, methane, ethane, water, ammonia ice particles, and ammonium sulfide particles. In general: the explosive mixture is clearly unsuitable for human life.

Since Jupiter's magnetic field is 20,000 times more powerful than Earth's, the gas giant most likely has a very dense inner core of unknown composition, covered with a thick outer layer of liquid metallic hydrogen rich in helium. And all this is “wrapped” in an atmosphere consisting mainly of molecular hydrogen. Well, just a true gas giant.

Kalisto - long-suffering companion

Callisto, Jupiter's second largest moon

Another interesting feature of Jupiter is its moon called Calisto. Calisto is the most distant of the four Galilean moons. It takes one Earth week to complete a revolution around Jupiter. Because its orbit lies outside the gas giant's radiation belt, Calisto suffers less from tidal forces than other Galilean moons. But since Kilisto is a tidally locked satellite, like our Moon, for example, one of its sides always faces Jupiter.

Calisto has a diameter of 5,000 km, which is approximately the size of the planet Mercury. After Ganymede and Titan, Calisto is the third largest moon in the Solar System (our Moon is fifth on this list, and Io is fourth). The surface temperature of Calisto is minus 139 degrees Celsius.
Calisto was discovered by the great astronomer Galileo Galilei and actually deprived him of his peaceful life. Calisto's discovery strengthened faith in his heliocentric theory and added fuel to the already burning conflict between the astronomer and the Catholic Church.

In modern times, planetary scientists are confident that we will be able to discover life on the Europa satellite (a Jupiter satellite) rather than on Mars. This cosmic body has a lot of unsolved mysteries. Today it is known that under the thick icy crust of Europa there is a liquid ocean that is quite suitable for the origin of life, warm and relatively safe.

Very often, articles appear on the Internet that living creatures similar to our fish and mammals live under the icy surface of Europe. Sometimes such theories are supported by photographs of familiar dolphins. Of course, we would be pleased to meet familiar mammals on other planets, but if we think from a scientific point of view, then most likely they will not be in the ocean of the satellite. No one denies that life may be present there, but it will most likely have its own form, special and unique.

Some general information

Europa is one of the four giant satellites located near the planet Jupiter. In total, this planet has sixteen satellites, but most of them do not deserve special attention, since they are relatively small. Europa's orbit is elongated, so it periodically approaches its planet and then moves away from it. During the approach, Europa is affected by the gravity of the huge Jupiter. Thus, Europe is compressed and decompressed with constant periodicity. This heats its internal ocean, making it suitable for life of various types of microorganisms.

Planetologists and astrophysicists are confident that in the central part of Europa (a satellite of Jupiter) there is a core covered with rocks. Behind it is an ocean of liquid water, the depth of which reaches 100 kilometers. The surface layer of Europa is ice, the thickness of which is equal to 10-30 km. The temperature on the surface of the Jupiter satellite is equal to -160⁰ Celsius.

Due to the incredibly deep ocean covered with a thick layer of ice, the surface of the Jupiter moon is considered the smoothest in our planetary system. Looking at images of Europa, you can see many kilometers of stripes covering the ice surface, as well as ridges, bulges and various types of concave areas. These “irregularities” are direct evidence of the presence of water under the ice of Jupiter’s moon.

Planetologists call the most interesting phenomenon on Europa the darkened lines that literally encircle the satellite length and breadth. The width of these formations can reach up to twenty km. Planetologists believe that these are traces of crustal fractures through which liquid made its way to the surface. They explain the color of the stripes by the fact that the waste products of the underwater inhabitants of Europe, which most likely are bacteria and other microorganisms, could have reacted with the ice.

Could life develop on Jupiter's Europa?

Solar ultraviolet rays “process” the surface of Jupiter’s satellite regularly. They melt ice, splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen. The lightest hydrogen evaporates almost instantly, and the heavier oxygen lingers for some time on the surface of Europa. Through the cracks and crevices in the crust mentioned above, oxygen can penetrate into the ocean of Jupiter's satellite. Thus, inside Europa there is liquid water, which regularly mixes with oxygen, and heat constantly flows from the bowels of this Jupiterian neighbor, warming its ocean.

D. Berne, a famous planetary scientist, says the following about the possibility of life in the Europa ocean:

For decades, we have believed that three factors are necessary for life to form and develop—water, light, and atmosphere. But at the bottom of the sea, for example, there are no last two conditions. Despite this, life exists there, and quite normally. Thus, the last two conditions for the formation of life can be discarded. In the ocean of Europa (Jupiter's satellite) there may well exist alien life, similar to our tube worms and mollusks, which exist perfectly on the sea and ocean floor.

T. Gold, who is also a planetary scientist and is interested in alien life, states:

The most resilient creatures on our planet are microorganisms. They are the ones who rule the world. If anyone can exist on other planets, it is they - various microbes. In the ocean of Europe there are ideal conditions for them.

When will Europe's secret be revealed?

NASA has begun developing its newest project, Clipper, aimed at studying Jupiter's neighbor. The budget for this project was estimated at $2 billion. This project was planned to be implemented in the 2020s, but has so far been frozen due to the crisis. In addition, the ESA agency drew attention to Jupiter and its satellites, whose representatives plan to launch spacecraft to the above-mentioned planet in 2025-30.

Our distant neighbor Jupiter hides secrets that may reveal much about how the solar system came to be.
NASA's Juno spacecraft has already reached orbit around the gas giant, and there are hopes that this project will provide some answers.

The European Space Agency plans to launch its own space probe in 2022 to explore Jupiter's moons. Swedish scientists are participating in the project.

Context

Jupiter's movements gave way to the Earth

Astrobiology Magazine 06/26/2015

Jupiter may have contributed to the formation of the Earth

Scientific American 04/02/2015

Pavel Globa: “Above us is Jupiter - the planet of kings”

Saturday 01/13/2010 “We are investigating the habitability of icy satellites,” says program leader Jan-Erik Wahlund from Uppsala University.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. It is not surprising that it is called a gas giant: if you add up the mass of all the other planets in the solar system, Jupiter will still have twice the mass.

The planet was named after the most powerful of the gods of the Roman pantheon. From Earth it can be seen with the naked eye, so the planet has been known since ancient times, although under different names.

Over the course of history, we learned more and more about our huge neighbor. Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), called the father of modern astronomy, was one of the first to observe Jupiter.

Galileo was among the first scientists to use a telescope to study the firmament. One day he heard about a Dutch invention called the "magic trumpet" and in 1609 he built his own telescope.

A year later, in 1610, he made a number of important discoveries. Galileo determined the location of stars that were not visible to the naked eye, discovered mountains on the Moon, and also discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter.

The moons were named Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto, and are still called the “Galilean moons” in honor of their discoverer.

Spacecraft in orbit

Today Jupiter is again on everyone's lips. On August 5, 2011, the American space agency NASA sent the Juno satellite to it.

Juno had come a long way and had only one chance to enter the planet's orbit. Just under a month ago, the spacecraft managed to set itself on course in what was described as a critical maneuver.

A week later, Juno sent back to Earth the first photographs taken by the Junocam color camera installed on board. One of the first blurry images shows Jupiter and three Galilean moons - Europa, Io and Ganymede. As it approaches the gas giant, the probe will be able to take increasingly clearer images and will eventually photograph the planet's surface.

Juno makes one orbit around Jupiter in its current orbit in 53 days. The device will remain in orbit for 20 months, that is, it will make 37 orbits around the planet.

Of course, NASA has other goals besides beautiful photos. The space agency's website says the project's goal is to try to figure out how Jupiter came into being. Thus, there will be a chance to find out new details about the origin of our solar system.

Does Jupiter have a core?

There is a theory that the solar system arose as a result of the collapse of a huge cloud of gas and dust, that is, a nebula, approximately 4.6 billion years ago.

The cloud rotated and cooled until the Sun and planets formed from it.

Like the Sun, Jupiter is mostly made of hydrogen and helium. Therefore, scientists believe that this planet arose early and based on material left after the appearance of the Sun.

But this is just a hypothesis. Astronomers do not yet have an exact answer to the question of how everything really happened. There is an assumption that the planet arose when the gravity of the solid core began to attract material to itself. According to another theory, the emergence of Jupiter caused the collapse of an unstable part of the nebula.

NASA wants to know whether Jupiter has a rocky core, and scientists will try to find out by measuring the volumes of water and ammonia in the planet's atmosphere.

Juno will collect data on Jupiter's gravity and magnetic field. This will allow us to calculate the probable mass and structure of the nucleus.

If we can find answers to these questions, it will be possible to draw new conclusions regarding the origin and history of our solar system.

Swedes in Jupiter research

NASA isn't the only one interested in Jupiter. In 2014, the European Space Agency also decided to send a spacecraft there.

Of course, the project arose as the result of thorough scientific work. The decision to launch the program was made only after four years of detailed research on the topic.

Currently, scientists are planning and also designing the spacecraft and its equipment. The device will be called Juice (short for Jupiter icy moons explorer). Representatives from almost all European countries, as well as Japan and the USA, participate in the project.

Juice won't hit the road until 2022. It will be equipped with ten measuring instruments, two of which will be produced in Sweden. The first, PEP (Particle Environment Package), is being built at the Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna, the second, RPWI (Radio Plasma Wave Investigation), is being built at a similar institute in Uppsala.

The project is headed by Jan-Erik Wahlund. His team is now busy building one of several prototypes that will have to undergo a series of tests before scientists construct the final version of the instrument in 2019.

“The device will measure electric and magnetic fields, as well as electrically charged gas,” explains the project manager.

The main goal is to make measurements around the surfaces of Europa's moons, Callisto and Ganymede, with the orbit centered on Ganymede. The spacecraft will enter a satellite orbit in the outer solar system, emphasizes Jan-Erik Wahlund.

In other words, NASA will focus on exploring the planet, while the European Space Organization will focus on its satellites.
Europeans also want to find answers to the question of how the solar system came into being.

“You could say that Jupiter is a miniature solar system. At first it was very hot, like a red dwarf, but it faded away without ever becoming a star. In addition, Jupiter has more than 60 moons,” says Jan-Erik Wahlund.

There might be life there

The moons of Jupiter are interesting for several reasons.

It is assumed that oceans are hidden under the ice crust on the surface of large celestial bodies. Whether this is true or not will become clear after the magnetic and electric fields are measured.

There is hope that we will be able to get closer to answering the question of whether life can exist on any of the satellites. Of course, we are not talking about aliens from a Hollywood movie, but about single-celled organisms.

“Actually, we are not looking for life on icy satellites, but for habitability. I don’t think we will find living organisms; to do that we would have to cut through the ice,” comments Wahlund.

But Jupiter is not next door, so it will be a long flight through space. If Juice sets off in 2022 as planned, it will be eight years before it is expected to arrive at its destination in 2030. And in another five years it will be disposed of on Ganymede.

"Exciting. Flying to Jupiter is something that only happens once in a lifetime,” says Jan-Erik Wahlund.