Exploring planets is never an easy task, and a lot of that’s due to how far away they are from us. Their dense and swirling clouds also make it difficult to get a good look at them, as does their intense radiation and strong gravity levels. Despite all of this, scientists are under the understanding that Jupiter does have a solid core and this theory ties in with existing theories of how the solar system and everything in it formed in the first place. Jupiter is made up mostly of gaseous and liquid matter with an upper atmosphere composed of around 88-92% hydrogen and the remainder helium regarding volume gas molecules. There are also trace amounts of water vapor, ammonia, methane, and silicon-based compounds, carbon, neon, oxygen, and others. The outermost layer of the planet also contains frozen ammonia crystals. Jupiter’s interior is a slightly different composition with around 71% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 5% other elements of mass. Scientists have always described Jupiter’s core as being rocky and made up of a dense mix of elements. This idea is supported by models of a planetary formation that indicate how it would have been necessary to have a rocky or icy core in order to collect all the hydrogen and helium it has. Most of the planet’s mass is leftover material from the formation of the Sun, hence why it ended up with twice the mass of the other planets. The Juno mission launched in 2011 and was designed to gain a much deeper understanding of the planet including its interior, atmosphere, gravitational field, and magnetosphere. On the 4th July 2016, Juno had achieved orbit around Jupiter. Since then, the probe has been passing back and forth between the northern polar region and the southern polar and will continue to do this until February 2018. It is then that Juno will de-orbit and burn up in the planet’s outer atmosphere. Scientists are hoping all of the data gathered from the mission will help us a gain a deeper understanding of Jupiter’s interior, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and evolution. But until we get all that information back and have a chance to analyze it we still can’t say for certain of Jupiter’s core is solid. For now, we can only speculate.
-
Archives
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- June 2022
- January 2022
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
-
Meta