On March 13, 1781, English astronomer William Herschel discovered the seventh planet of the solar system - Uranus. And on March 13, 1930, American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ninth planet of the solar system - Pluto. By the beginning of the 21st century, it was believed that the solar system included nine planets. However, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided to strip Pluto of this status.
There are already 60 known natural satellites of Saturn, most of which were discovered using spacecraft. Most of the satellites consist of rocks and ice. The largest satellite, Titan, discovered in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens, is larger than the planet Mercury. The diameter of Titan is about 5200 km. Titan orbits Saturn every 16 days. Titan is the only moon to have a very dense atmosphere, 1.5 times larger than Earth's, consisting primarily of 90% nitrogen, with moderate methane content.
The International Astronomical Union officially recognized Pluto as a planet in May 1930. At that moment, it was assumed that its mass was comparable to the mass of the Earth, but later it was found that Pluto’s mass is almost 500 times less than the Earth’s, even less than the mass of the Moon. Pluto's mass is 1.2 x 10.22 kg (0.22 Earth's mass). Pluto's average distance from the Sun is 39.44 AU. (5.9 to 10 to 12 degrees km), radius is about 1.65 thousand km. The period of revolution around the Sun is 248.6 years, the period of rotation around its axis is 6.4 days. Pluto's composition is believed to include rock and ice; the planet has a thin atmosphere consisting of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. Pluto has three moons: Charon, Hydra and Nix.
At the end of XX and beginning of XXI centuries, many objects have been discovered in the outer solar system. It has become obvious that Pluto is only one of the largest Kuiper Belt objects known to date. Moreover, at least one of the belt objects - Eris - is more large body than Pluto and 27% heavier. In this regard, the idea arose to no longer consider Pluto as a planet. On August 24, 2006, at the XXVI General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), it was decided to henceforth call Pluto not a “planet”, but a “dwarf planet”.
At the conference, a new definition of a planet was developed, according to which planets are considered bodies that revolve around a star (and are not themselves a star), have a hydrostatically equilibrium shape and have “cleared” the area in the area of their orbit from other, smaller objects. Dwarf planets will be considered objects that orbit a star, have a hydrostatically equilibrium shape, but have not “cleared” the nearby space and are not satellites. Planets and dwarf planets are two different classes objects of the solar system. All other objects orbiting the Sun that are not satellites will be called small bodies of the Solar System.
Thus, since 2006 in solar system there were eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. The International Astronomical Union officially recognizes five dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.
On June 11, 2008, the IAU announced the introduction of the concept of "plutoid". It was decided to call celestial bodies revolving around the Sun in an orbit whose radius is greater than the radius of Neptune’s orbit, whose mass is sufficient for gravitational forces to give them an almost spherical shape, and which do not clear the space around their orbit (that is, many small objects revolve around them) ).
Since it is still difficult to determine the shape and thus the relationship to the class of dwarf planets for such distant objects as plutoids, scientists recommended temporarily classifying all objects whose absolute asteroid magnitude (brilliance from a distance of one astronomical unit) is brighter than +1 as plutoids. If it later turns out that an object classified as a plutoid is not a dwarf planet, it will be deprived of this status, although the assigned name will be retained. The dwarf planets Pluto and Eris were classified as plutoids. In July 2008, Makemake was included in this category. On September 17, 2008, Haumea was added to the list.
The material was prepared based on information from open sources
When a person is going to drive his own car to an unfamiliar city, the first thing he does is find out the distance to it in order to estimate the travel time and stock up on gasoline. The distance traveled on the road will not depend on whether you go on the road in the morning or in the evening, today or in a couple of months. WITH space travel the situation is somewhat more complicated and the distance to Jupiter, measured yesterday, in six months will turn out to be one and a half times greater, and then will begin to decrease again. On Earth, it would be very inconvenient to travel to a city that itself is constantly moving.
The average distance from our planet to the gas giant is 778.57 million km, but this figure is approximately as relevant as information about average temperature around the hospital. The fact is that both planets move around the Sun (or, more precisely, around the center of mass of the Solar System) in elliptical orbits, and with different orbital periods. For Earth it is equal to one year, and for Jupiter it is almost 12 years (11.86 years). Minimum possible distance between them is 588.5 million km, and the maximum is 968.6 million km. The planets seem to be riding on a swing, now approaching, now moving away.
The Earth moves at a higher orbital speed than Jupiter: 29.78 km/s versus 13.07 km/s, and is significantly closer to the center of the solar system, and therefore catches up with it every 398.9 days, coming closer. Taking into account the ellipticity of motion trajectories, there are points at outer space, where the distance between the planets becomes almost minimal. For the Earth-Jupiter pair, the period of time through which they regularly approach each other in this way is about 12 years.
Great Controversies
Such moments in time are usually called dates of great confrontations. These days, Jupiter surpasses all celestial objects in the starry sky in its brightness, approaching the glow of Venus, and with the help of a small telescope or binoculars it becomes possible to observe not only the planet itself, but even its satellites. Therefore, astronomers and simply connoisseurs of the beauty of the starry sky are looking forward to oppositions in order to take a closer look at a distant and little-studied cosmic body and maybe even discover something hitherto unknown to science.
The next unique opportunity to observe Jupiter in the most comfortable conditions for an earthly observer will present itself in the last ten days of September 2022. At such moments on the surface of the planet, using a small telescope, you can clearly see the famous Red Spot, stripes on the disk of the celestial body, various vortex flows in them, and much more. Anyone who has looked through a telescope at this intriguing planet once in his life will strive to do it again and again.
Fly later to arrive earlier
Inside the Great Red Spot
Knowing the kinematics of planetary motion and the planned speed of the spacecraft, you can choose the optimal launch date for the launch vehicle in order to fly to Jupiter as quickly as possible, using less fuel. To be more precise, it is not the interplanetary station that flies to the celestial body, but the two of them moving towards the meeting place, only the route of the planet has remained unchanged for thousands of years, and the trajectory of the aircraft can be chosen. There are options when a vehicle that takes off later will be able to reach the target earlier, so in order to realize them, they strive to build a rocket by the date suitable for launch. There are cases when it is more profitable to fly longer, but then use a “free” source of energy during acceleration and maneuvers - the gravitational attraction of other planets.
Planet exploration
Eight space missions have already taken part in the study of Jupiter, and the ninth, Juno, is underway. The start date of each of them was chosen taking into account the chosen route.
So, orbital station"Galileo" before becoming artificial satellite Jupiter, spent more than six years on the road, but managed to visit Venus and a couple of asteroids, and also fly past the Earth twice.
But the New Horizons spacecraft reached the gas giant in just 13 months, since its main target is much further away - Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
Saturn is the sixth planet of the solar system. The second largest, and its density is so low that if you fill a huge tank with water and place Saturn there, it will float freely on the surface without being completely submerged in water. The main attraction of Saturn is its rings, consisting of dust, gas and ice. A huge number of rings surround the planet, the diameter of which is several times greater than the diameter of the Earth.
What is Saturn like?
First you need to figure out what kind of planet this is and what it is “eaten with”. Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, named after the ancient Roman Greeks called it Kronos, the father of Zeus (Jupiter). At the farthest point of the orbit (aphelion), the distance from the star is 1,513 billion km.
A planetary day is only 10 hours and 34 minutes, but a planetary year lasts 29.5 Earth years. The atmosphere of the gas giant consists mainly of hydrogen (it accounts for 92%). The remaining 8% comes from impurities of helium, methane, ammonia, ethane, etc.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 reached the orbit of Saturn a couple of years ago and provided scientists with invaluable information about this planet. Winds whose speed reached 500 m/s were observed on the surface. For example, the most strong wind on Earth reached only 103 m/s (New Hampshire,
Just like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, there is a Great White Oval on Saturn. But the second appears only every 30 years, and its last appearance was in 1990. In a couple of years we will be able to watch him again.
Size ratio of Saturn and Earth
How many times does Saturn more than Earth? According to some data, Saturn is 10 times larger than our planet in diameter alone. By volume 764 times, i.e. Saturn can accommodate exactly this number of our planets. The width of Saturn's rings exceeds the diameter of our blue planet by 6 times. He's so gigantic.
Distance from Earth to Saturn
First, you need to take into account the fact that all the planets of the solar system do not move in circles, but in ellipses (ovals). There come moments when the distance from the Sun changes. It can get closer, it can move away. On Earth this is clearly visible. This is called the change of seasons. But the rotation and inclination of our planet relative to its orbit plays a role here.
Consequently, the distance from Earth to Saturn will vary significantly. Now you will find out how much. Using scientific measurements, it has been calculated that the minimum distance from Earth to Saturn in kilometers is 1195 million, while the maximum is 1660 million.
As you know, the speed of light (according to Einstein’s theory of relativity) is an insurmountable limit in the Universe. He seems unattainable to us. But on a cosmic scale it is negligible. In 8 minutes, light travels the distance to the Earth, which is 150 million km (1 AU). The distance to Saturn has to be covered in 1 hour and 20 minutes. It's not that long, you might say, but just think about the speed of light being 300,000 m/s!
If you take a rocket as a means of transportation, it will take years to cover the distance. Spacecraft aimed at studying the giant planets took from 2.5 to 3 years. On this moment they are outside the solar system. Many scientists believe that the distance from Earth to Saturn can be covered in 6 years and 9 months.
What awaits a person near Saturn?
Why do we even need this hydrogen planet, where life would never originate? Saturn interests scientists with its moon called Titan. The largest satellite of Saturn and the second largest in the Solar System (after Ganymede near Jupiter). Scientists were no less interested in it than Mars. Titan is larger than Mercury and even has rivers on its surface. True, the rivers are made of ethane.
The gravitational force on the satellite is less than on Earth. The main element present in the atmosphere is hydrocarbon. If we manage to get to Titan, this will be a very pressing problem for us. But you won’t need tight spacesuits. Only very warm clothes and an oxygen cylinder. Given the density and gravity of Titan, we can say with great confidence that a person will be able to fly. The fact is that in such conditions our body can freely float in the air, without having strong resistance from gravity. We only need ordinary model wings. And even if they break down, a person will be able to gently “saddle” the hard surface of the satellite without any problems.
For the successful settlement of Titan, it will be necessary to build entire cities under hemispherical domes. Only then will it be possible to recreate a climate similar to the earth’s for more comfortable living and growing necessary products nutrition, as well as the extraction of valuable mineral resources from the bowels of the planet.
The shortage will also be an acute problem. sunlight, because the Sun near Saturn seems small. A replacement for solar batteries will be hydrocarbons, which cover the planet in abundance with entire seas. The first colonizers will receive energy from it. Water is found deep below the moon's surface in the form of ice.
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Distance from the Sun to Jupiter in kilometers in the photo: description of the position in the solar system, elliptical orbit, retrograde Jupiter, flight time to the planet.
Jupiter- the largest planet in the solar system that can be seen, despite its great distance. The features of its orbit can be seen in the photo, where the distances from the Sun and Earth are marked.
Planets travel along an elliptical orbital path, so the distance between them is always different. If located at the nearest point, then 588 million km. In this position, the planet even outshines Venus in brightness. At maximum distance, the distance is 968 million km.
The gas giant takes 11.86 million km per rotation around the star. The Earth on its way reaches Jupiter every 398.9 days. Such retrogrades led to problems in models of the solar system, where the ideal circular orbits did not match the loop of Jupiter and the other planets. Johannes Kepler guessed about elliptical paths.
Distance from Jupiter to the Sun?
On average, the distance from the Sun to Jupiter is 778 million km, but due to ellipticity, the planet can approach by 741 million km and move away by 817 million km.
Between two rotating celestial bodies the center of mass is established. Although we say that all planets orbit the Sun, they actually target a specific mass point. For many planets, this center is located inside the star. But Jupiter is distinguished by its enviable massiveness, so for it the point is located outside the solar diameter. Now you know more about the distance from the Sun to the planet Jupiter in kilometers.
How long does it take to fly to Jupiter?
The speed of flight to Jupiter depends on several factors: fuel supply, location of planets, speed, use of a gravitational slingshot.
Galileo set off in 1989 and arrived 6 years later, having traveled 2.5 billion miles. He had to go around Venus, Earth and the Gaspra asteroid. Voyager 1 launched in 1977 and arrived in 1979 because it traveled when the planets were perfectly aligned.
New Horizons flew direct in 2006 and arrived in 13 months. Juno, launched in 2011, took 5 years to complete.
ESA plans to launch the JUICE mission in 2022, whose journey will take 7.6 years. NASA wants to send a spacecraft to Europa in the 2020s, which will take 3 years.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, the largest in the Solar System. The stripes and swirls on its surface represent cold, wind-driven clouds consisting of ammonia and water. The atmosphere is primarily composed of helium and hydrogen, and the famous Great Red Spot is a giant storm larger than Earth that lasts for hundreds of years. Jupiter is surrounded by 53 confirmed moons, as well as 14 temporary ones, for a total of 67. Scientists are most interested in the four largest objects discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei: Europa, Callisto, Ganymede and Io. Jupiter also has three rings, but they are very difficult to see and are not as elegant as Saturn's. The planet is named after the supreme Roman god.
Comparative sizes of the Sun, Jupiter and Earth
The planet is located an average of 778 million km from the star, which is 5.2. At this distance, light takes 43 minutes to reach the gas giant. The size of Jupiter compared to the Sun is so impressive that their barycenter extends beyond the surface of the star by 0.068 of its radius. The planet is much larger than Earth and much less dense. Their volume ratio is 1:1321, and their mass is 1:318. From the center to the surface, the size of Jupiter in km is 69911. This is 11 times wider than our planet. The size of Jupiter and Earth can be compared as follows. If our planet was the size of a nickel, then the gas giant would be the size of a basketball. The size of the Sun and Jupiter in diameter are in a ratio of 10:1, and the mass of the planet is 0.001 that of the star.
Orbit and rotation
The gas giant has the shortest day in the solar system. Despite the size of Jupiter, a day on the planet lasts about 10 hours. A year, or revolution around the Sun, takes about 12 Earth years. The equator is tilted relative to its orbital path by only 3 degrees. This means that Jupiter rotates almost vertically and does not have the pronounced changes of seasons that occur on ours and other planets.
Formation
The planet formed along with the entire solar system 4.5 billion years ago, when gravity caused it to form from swirling dust and gas. due to the fact that it captured most of the mass remaining after the formation of the star. Its volume was twice as large as the rest of the matter in other solar system objects. It is made of the same material as a star, but the size of the planet Jupiter has not grown enough to trigger a thermonuclear reaction. About four billion years ago, the gas giant ended up in its current position in the outer solar system.
Structure
Jupiter's composition is similar to the sun's - mostly helium and hydrogen. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature rise, compressing hydrogen gas into liquid. Because of this, Jupiter has the largest ocean in the solar system, made of hydrogen instead of water. Scientists believe that at depths perhaps halfway to the center of the planet, the pressure becomes so great that electrons are squeezed out of the hydrogen atoms, turning it into a liquid, electrically conductive metal. The rapid rotation of a gas giant causes it electric currents, generating a strong magnetic field. It is still unknown whether the planet has a central core of solid material, or whether it is a thick, super-hot soup of iron and silicate minerals (like quartz) with temperatures up to 50,000 °C.
Surface
As a gas giant, Jupiter has no true surface. The planet consists mainly of rotating gases and liquids. Since the spacecraft will not be able to land on Jupiter, it will not be able to fly away unscathed. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet will crush, melt and vaporize any ship that tries to reach it.
Atmosphere
Jupiter appears as a colorful tapestry of cloud streaks and spots. The gas planet likely has three separate cloud layers in its "sky" that together cover about 71 km. The top one consists of ammonia ice. The middle layer is most likely formed by crystals of ammonium hydrosulfide, and the inner layer is formed by water ice and steam. Bright colors thick streaks on Jupiter may be emissions of sulfur and phosphorus-containing gases rising from its depths. The planet's rapid rotation creates strong vortex flows, dividing the clouds into long dark belts and light zones.
The lack of a solid surface to slow them down allows Jupiter's spots to persist for many years. The planet is covered by more than a dozen prevailing winds, some reaching speeds of 539 km/h at the equator. The size of the Red Spot on Jupiter is twice as wide as the Earth. The formation of a twisted oval shape has been observed on the giant planet for more than 300 years. More recently, three small ovals formed a small Red Spot, about half the size of its larger cousin. Scientists do not yet know whether these ovals and stripes encircling the planet are shallow or extend far into the depths.
Potential for life
Jupiter's environment is probably not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures and substances that characterize this planet are likely too extreme and lethal for living organisms. While Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things, the same cannot be said for some of its many moons. Europa is one of the most likely places to search for life in our solar system. There is evidence of a huge ocean beneath the icy crust that could support life.
Satellites
Many small ones and four large ones form the Solar System in miniature. The planet has 53 confirmed satellites, as well as 14 temporary ones, for a total of 67. These newly discovered satellites have been reported by astronomers and given a temporary designation by the International Astronomical Union. Once their orbits are confirmed, they will be included in the permanent ones.
The four largest moons - Europa, Io, Callisto and Ganymede - were first discovered in 1610 by astronomer Galileo Galilei using an early version of a telescope. These four moons represent one of the most exciting areas of research today. Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Ganymede is the largest of them (even larger than the planet Mercury). Jupiter's second largest moon, Callisto, has few small craters, indicating little current surface activity. Ocean liquid water with the ingredients for life may lie beneath Europa's icy crust, making it a tempting subject for study.
Rings
Discovered in 1979 by NASA's Voyager 1, Jupiter's rings were a surprise because they were made up of small, dark particles that can only be seen against the sun. Data from the Galileo spacecraft suggest that the ring system may be formed by dust from interplanetary meteoroids that crashed into small inner satellites.
Magnetosphere
The magnetosphere of a gas giant is a region of space under the influence of a powerful magnetic field planets. It extends 1-3 million km towards the Sun, which is 7-21 times the size of Jupiter, and tapers into a tadpole-shaped tail at 1 billion km, reaching the orbit of Saturn. The huge magnetic field is 16-54 times more powerful than the earth's. It rotates with the planet and captures particles that have an electrical charge. Near Jupiter, it captures swarms of charged particles and accelerates them to very high energies, creating intense radiation that bombards nearby moons and can damage spacecraft. The magnetic field produces some of the most impressive in the solar system at the planet's poles.
Study
Although Jupiter has been known since ancient times, the first detailed observations of this planet were made by Galileo Galilei in 1610 using a primitive telescope. And only recently it was visited by spaceships, satellites and probes. The 10th and 11th Pioneers, 1st and 2nd Voyagers were the first to fly to Jupiter in 1970, and then Galileo was sent into orbit of the gas giant, and a probe was lowered into the atmosphere. Cassini took detailed photographs of the planet on its way to neighboring Saturn. The next Juno mission arrived at Jupiter in July 2016.
Significant Events
- 1610: Galileo Galilei made the first detailed observations of the planet.
- 1973: The first spacecraft, Pioneer 10, crossed and flew past the gas giant.
- 1979: The first and second Voyagers discovered new moons, rings, and volcanic activity on Io.
- 1992: On February 8, Ulysses flew past Jupiter. Gravity changed the spacecraft's trajectory away from the ecliptic plane, placing the probe into a final orbit above the south and north poles of the Sun.
- 1994: A collision with fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy occurred in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter.
- 1995-2003: The Galileo spacecraft dropped a probe into the atmosphere of the gas giant and conducted long-term observations of the planet, its rings and satellites.
- 2000: Cassini made its closest approach to Jupiter at a distance of about 10 million km, capturing a highly detailed color mosaic photograph of the gas giant.
- 2007: pictures taken spaceship NASA's New Horizons on its way to Pluto showed new prospects of atmospheric storms, rings, volcanic Io and icy Europa.
- 2009: Astronomers observed the fall of a comet or asteroid on the southern hemisphere of the planet.
- 2016: Launched in 2011, Juno arrived at Jupiter and began conducting in-depth studies of the planet's atmosphere, deep structure and magnetosphere to unravel its origins and evolution.
Pop culture
Jupiter's sheer size is matched by its significant presence in pop culture, including films, television shows, video games and comic books. The gas giant became a prominent feature in the Wachowski sisters' sci-fi film Jupiter Ascending, and various moons of the planet became the home of Cloud Atlas, Futurama, Halo and many other films. In the movie Men in Black, when Agent Jay (Will Smith) said that one of his teachers seemed to be from Venus, Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) replied that she was actually from one of the moons of Jupiter.
