Jupiter named after the Roman King of the Gods.

The Great Red Spot is cyclone storm that has been raging for over 300 years. This storm is about two earth diameters wide. The atmosphere is hydrogen and helium, with different types of clouds at different levels which gives Jupiter the band of different colors. The wind blows at over 640 km/hr in these rotating bands.

The upper-level clouds temperature is – 145° C

Jupiter does not have a true solid surface. Its atmosphere simply gets denser with depth, turning to liquid metallic hydrogen and it does have a small core.

Exploration

• 1973: Pioneer 10 is the first spacecraft to flyby Jupiter.
• 1979: Voyager 1 and 2 flyby to discover Jupiter’s faint rings, several new moons and volcanic activity on Io’s surface.
• 1995-2003: The Galileo spacecraft sends a probe into the planet’s atmosphere and sends back data on Jupiter’s moons and rings.
• 2000: Cassini makes a close flight around Jupiter sending back highly detailed color photos of the gas giant.
• 2007: NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, on the way to Pluto, sent back photos and data on the atmosphere, rings, and moons
• 2016: NASA’s Juno spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, it sends back data of the planet’s atmosphere and magnetosphere

Mercury  Venus  Earth Mars  Jupiter  Saturn  Uranus  Neptune