Jupiter's size compared to Earth. How many times the diameter of each of the giant planets is greater than the diameter of the Earth? Earth in relation to Jupiter
Jupiter is known to be the largest planet in the solar system. The size of this planet is truly impressive, it is definitely the record holder for the size of the planets of the solar system, but planets have been discovered that are even larger than our Jupiter. But the true size of Jupiter is difficult to determine exactly due to a number of reasons ...
Problems measuring the size of Jupiter.
The planet Jupiter is officially named the largest planet in the solar system, but despite this, no one knows the real size of this planet. The problem with measuring Jupiter's size lies in its thick atmosphere in which chemical reactions are constantly taking place. All we see when we look at Jupiter are its clouds, which people take for the real size of the planet, but the true size of Jupiter can be much smaller.
Thick clouds of the planet make it difficult to see its surface, because it is by the size of the surface of the planet that we determine the size of the planet itself. In the case of Jupiter, the dimensions of the surface are taken into account by the visible boundary of the clouds, so scientists can only start from examining various data obtained from probes in Jupiter's orbit.
Size of Jupiter and Earth
318 times the size of the planet Earth. The mass of Jupiter is very huge, it is huge enough that Jupiter can attract objects flying past it. Also, due to the mass of the planet, there are static ones. Cases have been repeatedly recorded of how Jupiter attracted and absorbed into its atmosphere various space objects heading towards the planets of the Earth group. If not for this “protector”, then much more meteorites and asteroids would reach the Earth and could threaten our lives. Because of its size, Jupiter has a ton of satellites in its orbits, including .
So the size of Jupiter may have saved our planet hundreds of times. If not for Jupiter, then life on Earth could have been destroyed long ago by a meteorite that hit our planet.
Planets larger than Jupiter.
Despite the fact that Jupiter is by far the largest planet in the solar system, there are planets that are much larger than Jupiter. These planets are in other star systems and some of them are closer to their star than Jupiter. Being closer to the star, other gas giants have a temperature much higher than Jupiter, which makes these planets huge. TRES-4 is the largest known planet 
Even without a specialized astronomical instrument, one can understand how many times Jupiter is larger than the Earth. To do this, just look at the images of the celestial giant, which has clearly defined boundaries.
The problem of determining the size of the planet
It is impossible to accurately determine the size of Jupiter, because it is a kind of gas ball. Chemical elements in its atmosphere and on the surface (it is represented by the Global Ocean on the planet) are constantly changing their state from gaseous to molten.
Behind dense clouds in the upper layers of the atmosphere (they seem to be the visible boundaries of the object), it is impossible to accurately determine the ongoing processes. Therefore, all calculations are based only on research data, and the dimensions of Jupiter are taken equal to the contour of the visible boundary of its clouds.
The dimensions of this celestial body are characterized by radii:
- equatorial, equal to 71492 km;
- polar with a value of 66854 km.
These dimensions are valid for the current position of Jupiter. If it were closer to the Sun, it would have a larger diameter due to the fact that it would be more heated by sunlight and this would cause the gases to expand.
The celestial body is slightly deformed from the side of the poles due to the high speed of its rotation around its axis (a full revolution takes only 10 hours). The geometric shape of Jupiter is called an oblate spheroid.
To simplify the calculations, it was customary for scientists to consider the gas giant a ball with a diameter of almost 140,000 km. The task is facilitated by the fact that the surface of the planet does not have mountains and depressions, like space objects from rocky rocks.
If you line up 11 planets of the Earth in a row, then this will be the approximate size of the diameter of Jupiter. Credit: NASA.
Diameter comparison
On average, the diameter of this celestial body is 139822 km, which is almost 11 times larger than the similar parameter of the Earth. The famous hurricane moving around the planet - BKP - had a length of 24,000 to 40,000 km in different years. Our planet with an average radius of 6371 km would simply drown in this atmospheric formation.
If any of the spacecraft decides to fly around this planet, it will have to cover more than 440,000 km. For comparison, if it flew around the Earth along its equator, it would cover a distance 10 times less.
There is at least 1 object in space that is larger than Jupiter. This is the exoplanet TrES-4, discovered in the mid-2000s, located in the constellation Hercules. It is also a gas giant, and it is 1.8 times larger than our "giant". But in the solar system, Jupiter is not the largest cosmic body - in terms of radius, it is 10 times inferior to the Sun.
Volume and area
A comparison of Jupiter and the Earth in terms of their volume can be carried out using a mathematical formula, knowing the diameters of celestial bodies. Calculations show that the gas giant is almost 1300 times larger than our planet.
The formula also calculates the superiority of the gas planet over us in terms of its surface area - it is 122 times larger.
Planet masses
By its mass, the giant planet is 318 times larger than ours. It is 2 times heavier than Pluto, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury in total. At the same time, Jupiter itself is much smaller than the Sun, which weighs approximately 99.86% of the total mass of the entire solar system.
The weight of the giant was calculated theoretically based on the following parameters:
- 89% of the planet is hydrogen;
- 10% - helium content.
Another 1% is accounted for by a mixture of several gases and water vapor, therefore, some average value of their mass was used in the calculations.
But there is one physical quantity in which Jupiter did not become an absolute champion - its density. According to this parameter, it occupies the 5th place in the solar system. Despite the apparent massiveness, this planet is relatively "loose", because it does not consist of rocks, but of gases.
The structure of the planet is multi-layered, but it is difficult to talk about specific parameters. There is only one possible model to consider. The atmosphere of the planet is considered to be a layer starting from the upper part of the cloud and extending to a depth of about 1000 kilometers. At the lower edge of the atmospheric layer, the pressure is up to 150 thousand atmospheres. The temperature of the planet at this boundary is about 2000 K.
Below this region is a gas-liquid layer of hydrogen. This layer is characterized by the transition of a gaseous substance into a liquid as it deepens. Science currently cannot describe this process in terms of physics. It is known that at temperatures exceeding 33 K, hydrogen exists only in the form of a gas. However, Jupiter completely destroys this axiom.
In the lower part of the hydrogen layer, the pressure is 700,000 atmospheres, while the temperature increases to 6500 K. Below is an ocean of liquid hydrogen without the slightest gas particles. Under this layer is ionized, decayed into hydrogen atoms. This is the reason for the strong magnetic field of the planet.
The mass of Jupiter is known, but it is difficult to speak definitely about the mass of its core. Scientists believe that it can be 5 or 15 times larger than the earth. It has a temperature of 25,000-30,000 degrees at a pressure of 70 million atmospheres.
Atmosphere
The red hue of some of the planet's clouds indicates that Jupiter includes not only hydrogen, but also complex compounds. The atmosphere of the planet contains methane, ammonia and even particles of water vapor. In addition, traces of ethane, phosphine, carbon monoxide, propane, acetylene were found. Of these substances, it is difficult to isolate one, which is the cause of the original color of the clouds. These are equally likely to be compounds of sulfur, organic substances or phosphorus.
Lighter and darker bands, located parallel to the equator of the planet, are multidirectional atmospheric currents. Their speed can reach up to 100 meters per second. The boundary of the currents is rich in huge turbulences. The most impressive of them is the Great Red Spot. This whirlwind has been raging for more than 300 years and has dimensions of 15x30 thousand km. The timing of the hurricane is unknown. It is believed to have been raging for thousands of years. A hurricane makes a complete revolution around its axis in a week. The atmosphere of Jupiter is rich in similar vortices, which, however, are much smaller and live no longer than two years.
Ring
Jupiter is a planet whose mass is much larger than Earth's. In addition, it is full of surprises and unique phenomena. So, on it there are polar lights, radio noise, dust storms. The smallest particles that have received an electric charge from the solar wind have an interesting dynamics: being an average between micro- and macro-bodies, they almost equally react to electromagnetic and gravitational fields. These particles form the ring that surrounds the planet. It was opened in 1979. The radius of the main part is 129 thousand km. The width of the ring is only 30 km. In addition, its structure is very rarefied, so it can only reflect thousandths of a percent of the light that hits it. It is impossible to observe the ring from the Earth - it is so thin. In addition, it is constantly deployed with a thin edge towards our planet due to the slight inclination of the axis of rotation of the giant planet to the plane of the orbit.
A magnetic field
The mass and radius of Jupiter, coupled with its chemical composition, allow the planet to have a giant magnetic field. Its intensity greatly exceeds that of the earth. The magnetosphere extends far into space, for a distance of about 650 million km, even beyond the orbit of Saturn. However, towards the Sun, this distance is 40 times less. Thus, even at such vast distances, the Sun "does not give way" to its planets. This "behavior" of the magnetosphere makes it completely different from the sphere.
Will he become a star?
Strange as it may seem, it may still happen that Jupiter becomes a star. One of the scientists put forward such a hypothesis, coming to the conclusion that this giant has a source of nuclear energy.
At the same time, we know perfectly well that no planet, in principle, can have its own source. Even though they are visible in the sky, this is due to reflected sunlight. Whereas Jupiter radiates much more energy than the Sun brings to it.
Some scientists believe that in about 3 billion years, the mass of Jupiter will be equal to the sun. And then a global cataclysm will happen: the solar system in the form in which it is known today will cease to exist.
Planet characteristics:
- Distance from the Sun: ~ 778.3 million km
- Planet Diameter: 143,000 km*
- Days on the planet: 9h 50min 30s**
- Year on the planet: 11.86 years old***
- t° on the surface: -150°C
- Atmosphere: 82% hydrogen; 18% helium and minor traces of other elements
- Satellites: 16
* diameter at the equator of the planet
** period of rotation around its own axis (in Earth days)
*** orbital period around the Sun (in Earth days)
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. It is located at a distance of 5.2 astronomical years from the Sun, which is approximately 775 million km. The planets of the solar system are divided by astronomers into two conditional groups: terrestrial planets and gas giants. Jupiter is the largest of the gas giants.
Presentation: planet Jupiter
The dimensions of Jupiter exceed the dimensions of the Earth by 318 times, and if it were even larger by about 60 times, it would have every chance of becoming a star due to a spontaneous thermonuclear reaction. The planet's atmosphere is about 85% hydrogen. The remaining 15% is mainly helium with impurities of ammonia and sulfur and phosphorus compounds. Jupiter also contains methane in its atmosphere.
With the help of spectral analysis, it was found that there is no oxygen on the planet, therefore, there is no water - the basis of life. According to another hypothesis, there is still ice in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Perhaps no planet in our system causes so much controversy in the scientific world. Especially many hypotheses are connected with the internal structure of Jupiter. Recent studies of the planet with the help of spacecraft have made it possible to create a model that makes it possible to judge its structure with a high degree of certainty.
Internal structure
The planet is a spheroid, quite strongly compressed from the poles. It has a strong magnetic field that extends millions of kilometers into orbit. The atmosphere is an alternation of layers with different physical properties. Scientists suggest that Jupiter has a solid core 1-1.5 times the diameter of the Earth, but much denser. Its existence has not yet been proven, but it has not been refuted either.
atmosphere and surface
The upper layer of Jupiter's atmosphere consists of a mixture of hydrogen and helium gases and has a thickness of 8 - 20 thousand km. In the next layer, the thickness of which is 50 - 60 thousand km, due to the increase in pressure, the gas mixture passes into a liquid state. In this layer, the temperature can reach 20,000 C. Even lower (at a depth of 60 - 65 thousand km.) Hydrogen passes into a metallic state. This process is accompanied by an increase in temperature to 200,000 C. At the same time, the pressure reaches fantastic values of 5,000,000 atmospheres. Metallic hydrogen is a hypothetical substance characterized by the presence of free electrons and conductive electric current, as is characteristic of metals.
Moons of the planet Jupiter
The largest planet in the solar system has 16 natural satellites. Four of them, which Galileo spoke about, have their own unique world. One of them, the satellite of Io, has amazing landscapes of rocky rocks with real volcanoes, on which the Galileo apparatus, which studied the satellites, captured the volcanic eruption. The largest satellite in the solar system, Ganymede, although inferior in diameter to the satellites of Saturn, Titan and Neptune, Triton, has an ice crust that covers the surface of the satellite with a thickness of 100 km. There is an assumption that there is water under a thick layer of ice. Also, the existence of an underground ocean is also hypothesized on the Europa satellite, which also consists of a thick layer of ice; faults are clearly visible in the images, as if from icebergs. And the most ancient inhabitant of the solar system can rightly be considered a satellite of Jupiter Calisto, there are more craters on its surface than on any other surface of other objects in the solar system, and the surface has not changed much over the past billion years.
The weight of any body, as we learned in school physics lessons, is determined by the force of attraction, which is directly proportional to the mass of the planet and inversely proportional to the square of its radius. Thus, it is clear that depending on the size and size of the planet, the weight of the body placed on the surface of the planet will also change.
Even on Earth, since it is not strictly spherical, the weight of any object varies with latitude. The earth is flattened at the poles and stretched along the equator. Therefore, a person who weighs, say, 80 kilograms in the region of the Arctic Circle, will lose about 0.5 kilos at the equator.
And how will the weight of a person change on different planets of the solar system?
Mercury
The mass of Mercury is one-twentieth of the weight of the Earth. Radio astronomical measurements of this planet were first made in 1961 by the Americans Howard, Barrett and Haddock. In the 1970s and in 2011, the Mariner and Messenger spacecraft were sent to Mercury. On Mercury, a man weighing 80 kg would weigh just over 30 kg.
Venus
This planet is sometimes called the "sister of the Earth" because the mass and size of Venus and the Earth are not too different from each other. Venus is only slightly smaller than our home planet. Research by Soviet scientists of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation named after. Korolev, who sent the Venera-1 spacecraft in 1967, showed that the weight of a person here would not differ too much from that of the earth. The weight of 80 kilograms on Venus would decrease to 72 and a half kilos.
Mars
The mass of Mars is 10.7% of the mass of the Earth. Since the 60s of the last century, Mars has been actively studied by both our and foreign scientists. The missions "Mars" and "Phobos" (USSR), "Mariner", "Viking" (USA), "Mangalyan" (India) and others were sent here.
Thanks to these studies, we know that on Mars the weight of a person, which on Earth is 80 kg, will decrease to 30 kg.
Jupiter
The mass of Jupiter is 318 Earth masses. It was possible to study Jupiter, the composition of its atmosphere, mass and other parameters by launching the Pioneer (USSR), Voyager (USA) and other spacecraft.
The weight of a person (if he weighs 80 kg) would reach 189 kg here. It should be noted that the weight is given for the upper cloud layer, and not for the solid surface, which is so deep on Jupiter that scientists know little about the processes taking place there.
Saturn
The mass of this planet is 95 Earth masses. Today, Saturn has been studied with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as the launch programs of the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft.
At the boundary of Saturn's cloudy layer, the weight of any body approaches that of the earth, so 80 kilograms will turn into 73 here. The fact is that studies have shown an extremely low density of this planet. It is less than the density of water.
Uranus
Research under the Voyager 2 program allowed scientists to find out that the mass of Uranus is equal to 14 Earth masses. However, due to the low density, the weight of a person on Uranus would differ little from his weight on Earth. From 80 kilograms, 71 kg would remain.
Neptune
Neptune has a mass equal to 17 Earth. On this "gas giant", so far from the Sun that it is sometimes called the "ice giant", a person's weight equal to 80 kg on Earth would reach 90 kilograms.
Pluto
This tiny celestial body, whose mass is 0.0025 of the mass of the Earth (that is, 500 times lighter than the Earth!) Was discovered in 1930. Soviet scientists back in the 1950s suggested that Pluto is not a planet in the strict sense, but refers to celestial bodies, which are called "dwarf planets." In 2006, Pluto lost the “title” of the planet and was included in the group of dwarf planets. A person whose weight on Earth is 80 kilograms would weigh only 5 kilos on Pluto.
