JUPITER IS FIFTH PLANET FROM THE SUN, and first of the four gas giants.It is the largest and most massive planet , with a diameter about 11 times that of the Earth and a mass about 2.5 times the combined mass of eight other planets .Jupiter is thought to have a small rocky core surrounded by an inner mantle of metallic hydrogen (liquid hydrogen that acts like a metal., outside the inner mantle is an outer mantle of liquid hydrogen and helium that merges into the gaseous atmosphere .
Jupiter's rapid rate of rotation causes the clouds in its atmosphere to form belts and zones that encircle the planet parallel to the equator .Belts are dark , low lying ,relatively warm cloud layers .Within the belts and zones ,turbulence causes the formation of cloud features such as white ovals and red spots , both of which are huge storm systems.
The most prominent cloud features is a storm called the great red spot , which consists of a spiralling column of clouds three times wider than the Earth that rises eight kilometres above the upper cloud layer .Jupiter has one thin faint, main ring , inside which is a tenuous halo ring of tiny particles extending towards the planet .There are 16 known jovian moons .The four largest moon are Ganymede,Callisto,Io,and Europa.Ganymede and Callisto are cratered, and probably icy.Europa is smooth and icy. and may contain water.Io is covered in bright red , orange,and yellow splotches .This co louring is caused by sulfurous material from active volcanoes that shoot plumes of lava hundreds of kilometers above the surface.
Jupiter's rapid rate of rotation causes the clouds in its atmosphere to form belts and zones that encircle the planet parallel to the equator .Belts are dark , low lying ,relatively warm cloud layers .Within the belts and zones ,turbulence causes the formation of cloud features such as white ovals and red spots , both of which are huge storm systems.
The most prominent cloud features is a storm called the great red spot , which consists of a spiralling column of clouds three times wider than the Earth that rises eight kilometres above the upper cloud layer .Jupiter has one thin faint, main ring , inside which is a tenuous halo ring of tiny particles extending towards the planet .There are 16 known jovian moons .The four largest moon are Ganymede,Callisto,Io,and Europa.Ganymede and Callisto are cratered, and probably icy.Europa is smooth and icy. and may contain water.Io is covered in bright red , orange,and yellow splotches .This co louring is caused by sulfurous material from active volcanoes that shoot plumes of lava hundreds of kilometers above the surface.
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