Why Is Our Planet Jupiter's Atmosphere Unique?
Is Our Atmosphere Unique?
The planet Jupiter has the biggest atmosphere in our solar system. Jupiter’s atmosphere is composed of 90% hydrogen and 9.9% helium and .1% other gases such as sulfur, methane, ammonia, and water vapor. It is able to hold its atmosphere in because of its massive gravitational pull that is around 2.5 times stronger than earth’s pull. To put that into perspective, if you weigh 100 pounds on earth you would weigh 250 pounds on Jupiter.
The atmospheric layers are the troposphere,stratosphere,thermosphere and exosphere. The lowest layer , the troposphere , is covered in clouds and gases like ammonia and high levels of hydrogen. Jupiter’s atmosphere is well known for being a leading contributor to two of the raging
storms on the planet. The storms are named “The Great Red Spot” and “Oval BA” some scientists believe that they storms have been there for millions of years and they aren’t going away anytime soon. Also near the southern region of the planet a vortex called “GRS” due to the large size of the vortex it has the ability to engulf up to three Earths easily. Astronomy expert Bradford Smith says,”Jupiter has powerful storms, often accompanied by lightning strikes. The storms are a result of moist convection in the atmosphere connected to the evaporation and condensation of water. They are sites of strong upward motion of the air, which leads to the formation of bright and dense clouds. The storms form mainly in belt regions. The lightning strikes on Jupiter are hundreds of times more powerful than those seen on Earth, and are assumed to be associated with the water clouds.”
We have been researching The Big Red Spot for around 350 years and we have noticed that is rotates one time for every 6 Earth days. It is 22 degrees south of the equator and an astronomers say that at its longest it covers 1/14 of Jupiter’s diameter.
The planet Jupiter has the biggest atmosphere in our solar system. Jupiter’s atmosphere is composed of 90% hydrogen and 9.9% helium and .1% other gases such as sulfur, methane, ammonia, and water vapor. It is able to hold its atmosphere in because of its massive gravitational pull that is around 2.5 times stronger than earth’s pull. To put that into perspective, if you weigh 100 pounds on earth you would weigh 250 pounds on Jupiter.
The atmospheric layers are the troposphere,stratosphere,thermosphere and exosphere. The lowest layer , the troposphere , is covered in clouds and gases like ammonia and high levels of hydrogen. Jupiter’s atmosphere is well known for being a leading contributor to two of the raging
storms on the planet. The storms are named “The Great Red Spot” and “Oval BA” some scientists believe that they storms have been there for millions of years and they aren’t going away anytime soon. Also near the southern region of the planet a vortex called “GRS” due to the large size of the vortex it has the ability to engulf up to three Earths easily. Astronomy expert Bradford Smith says,”Jupiter has powerful storms, often accompanied by lightning strikes. The storms are a result of moist convection in the atmosphere connected to the evaporation and condensation of water. They are sites of strong upward motion of the air, which leads to the formation of bright and dense clouds. The storms form mainly in belt regions. The lightning strikes on Jupiter are hundreds of times more powerful than those seen on Earth, and are assumed to be associated with the water clouds.”
We have been researching The Big Red Spot for around 350 years and we have noticed that is rotates one time for every 6 Earth days. It is 22 degrees south of the equator and an astronomers say that at its longest it covers 1/14 of Jupiter’s diameter.