JUPITER
Jupiter is
the largest planet in our Solar System. It has a mass greater than
all the others put together. It is so big that when the Solar
System was formed billions of years ago it very nearly became a
star, but it didn’t end up quite big enough, and the centre
didn’t get hot enough for nuclear reactions to take place
Like the
Sun, Jupiter is not a solid body. The colourful surface of belt
and bands that we can see is only a cloud covering. Similar to the
clouds we see above us on earth, those of the giant planet are
ever changing. Jupiter spins on its axis faster than any other
planet..
As a result
of the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 we now know many
things about Jupiter and especially about its many moons.
Four of Jupiter’s moons, called the Galilean
satellites are easily visibly through binoculars or a small
telescope. One of them, Ganymade, is the largest moon in the Solar
System. Another moon, Io, is perhaps the strangest object in the
entire Solar System. The satellite Europa has an ice covered
surface as smooth as a billiard ball. Callisto has more craters
than any other moon yet discovered.
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