Jupiter Essay, Research Paper

Jupiter is one of the Sun s most interesting planets. Jupiter has many intriguing properties, which differ from those of Earth and other planets. It has many satellites uncommon to others in the solar system. It even helps to sustain life on Earth. Jupiter may seem like an ordinary planet, but in reality Jupiter may be one of the most interesting planetary bodies in the galaxy.

Jupiter s physical attributes is one of the reasons it is so fascinating. Unlike Earth, Jupiter is composed of gases, and has a molten center. It does not have rocky layers such as Earth or Mars. It is a ball of gas with rock and sediment debris orbiting it. Jupiter actually looks like a squished ball because of its high rotational spin. A Jupiter day is equal to 9 Earth hours and 45 minutes and a Jupiter year take more than twice as long as an Earth year. All these facts and more are what make Jupiter s physical attributes so interesting.

Unknown to most people, Jupiter actually helps sustain life on Earth. One of the ways it aids life is that it blocks many of the asteroids and meteors that would otherwise collide with Earth, ending life almost instantaneously. Also, Jupiter has a favorable orbit. If its orbit wasn t static, it would have sucked Earth into its orbit, killing everything on it. Other Jupiter-like planets have irregular orbits, which prevent life in those solar systems. Without Jupiter and its positive attributes, life on Earth would never have flourish as it has today.

Jupiter has many moons, each with its own unique properties. In all it has eight moons, which can be divided into two categories of the closes four moons and furthest four. The first group contains the satellites Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea and Thebe, which are anywhere from 127,000 km to 222,000 km away from Jupiter. They are all dark, irregularly shaped moons. Of these four, Adrastea and Metis are the closest to Jupiter, and act as shepherds by sweeping up all the debris floating away from the planet. The other category of the outer-most satellites contains the moons Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. The closest of the four, Io and Europa, are similar in composition to Earth and Venus. The last two, Ganymede and Callisto, are similar in composition to Neptune and Uranus. These moons are truly unique because they are like no other moons in the solar system.

Jupiter is a very unique planet to study. Students and scientist alike should study this planet further. This planet should be an example studied to understand universal properties throughout the universe due to its positive effects on Earth. Without Jupiter, facts about the world around us will never be realized, and we wouldn t be here to study it.