Archive for category Planets
Planet Jupiter; Some Things You Might Not Know
Posted by Tom Baker in Astronomy, Planets, Uncategorized on November 23, 2011
Some Facts About the Fifth Planet from the Sun.
Jupiter, 5th Planet in our Solar System
Facts
1. You can fit 318 planet Earth’s inside of Jupiter. That is huge. Not only can you fit over three hundred Earth’s inside of Jupiter but Jupiter’s mass is 2.5 the mass of the rest of the planets combined.
2. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is actually a storm that has been raging for more than 350 years but it is getting smaller in size. Astronomer Cassini first viewed the Great Red Spot in 1655.
3. Jupiter has 63 know satellites. My personal favorite moon is Io. Io has active vulcanism and produces lava flows, volcanic pits, and plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide hundreds of miles high. This volcanic activity was discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1.
But perhaps the most important fact about Jupiter that I want to make you aware of is that this month you can see it with your naked eye. Jupiter is the brightest “star” in the night sky during November.
Courtesy EarthSky.org
Related articles
- Jupiter’s moon Europa may have lakes in addition to oceans (inquisitr.com)
- Moon, Jupiter to shine near each other tonight (csmonitor.com)
Amazing Astronomical Photography
Image by NASA: Hubble Space Telescope
Three colliding galaxies around 100 million light years away.
Image by JPL / NASA
The splendor to the Orion Nebula
Image by NASA
The Omega Nebula
Image by NASA
The Eagle Nebula
Image by NASA and ESA
The Sombrero Galaxy in the Constellation Virgo
Image by NASA and ESA
A 50 light year across view of the much larger Carina Nebula
Image by NASA and ESA
A nebula in Sagittarius close to 8000 light years away.
Image by ESA and NASA
Region of space where numerous galaxies are behind this blue and brown nebula
Image by NASA
Crab Nebula, the result of a supernova seen by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1054
Image by JPL and NASA
Saturn’s moon Hyperion appearing to be spongy in texture.
Image by John Hopkins Physics Lab / NASA / Carnegie Institute of Washington
Cratered surface of Mercury.
Image by NASA Hubble Telescope
M51 Whirlppol Galaxy discovered by Messier in 1774.
Image courtesy JPL website.
Our solar systems heavenly bodies. (only clickable link on page)
Image by NASA
Sol, far side imagery of our Sun’s prominence.
Image by amateur astronomer Jack Newton
Comet Lulin seen February 2009.
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