Júpiter es el quinto planeta del sistema solar. Forma parte de los denominados planetas exteriores o gaseosos. Recibe su nombre del dios romano Júpiter (Zeus en la mitología griega). Se trata del planeta que ofrece un mayor brillo a lo largo del año dependiendo de su fase. Es, además, después del Sol, el mayor cuerpo celeste del sistema solar, con una masa casi dos veces y media la de los demás planetas juntos (con una masa 318 veces mayor que la de la Tierra y tres veces mayor que la de Saturno, además de ser en cuanto a volumen, 1317 veces más grande que la Tierra). Júpiter es un cuerpo masivo gaseoso, formado principalmente por hidrógeno y helio, carente de una superficie interior definida. Entre los detalles atmosféricos destacan la Gran Mancha Roja (un enorme anticiclón situado en las latitudes tropicales del hemisferio sur), la estructura de nubes en bandas oscuras y zonas brillantes, y la dinámica atmosférica global determinada por intensos vientos zonales alternantes en latitud y con velocidades de hasta 140 m/s (504 km/h).

Leer el artículo completo en Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun, but two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is a gas giant, along with Saturn, with the other two giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, being ice giants. Jupiter was known to astronomers of ancient times. The Romans named it after their god Jupiter. When viewed from Earth, Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.94, bright enough for its reflected light to cast shadows, and making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a quarter of its mass being helium, though helium comprises only about a tenth of the number of molecules. It may also have a rocky core of heavier elements, but like the other giant planets, Jupiter lacks a well-defined solid surface. Because of its rapid rotation, the planet's shape is that of an oblate spheroid (it has a slight but noticeable bulge around the equator). The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in turbulence and storms along their interacting boundaries. A prominent result is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to have existed since at least the 17th century when it was first seen by telescope. Surrounding Jupiter is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere. Jupiter has at least 67 moons, including the four large Galilean moons discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Ganymede, the largest of these, has a diameter greater than that of the planet Mercury. Jupiter has been explored on several occasions by robotic spacecraft, most notably during the early Pioneer and Voyager flyby missions and later by the Galileo orbiter. In late February 2007, Jupiter was visited by the New Horizons probe, which used Jupiter's gravity to increase its speed and bend its trajectory en route to Pluto. The latest probe to visit the planet is Juno, which entered into orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Future targets for exploration in the Jupiter system include the probable ice-covered liquid ocean of its moon Europa.

Leer el artículo completo en Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA