Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, and it’s hard to imagine a world more alien and different from Earth. It’s known as a Gas Giant, and its diameter is eleven times the size of Earth’s: our planet would fit inside it one thousand three hundred times. But its mass is only three hundred and twenty times greater, suggesting that although Jupiter is much bigger than Earth, the stuff it’s made of is much, much lighter. When you look at it through a powerful telescope you see a mass of colourful bands and stripes: these are the tops of ferocious weather systems that tear around the planet, including the great Red Spot, probably the longest-lasting storm in the solar system. Jupiter is so enormous that it’s thought to have played an essential role in the distribution of matter as the solar system formed - and it plays an important role in hoovering up astral debris that might otherwise rain down on Earth. It’s almost a mini solar system in its own right, with 95 moons orbiting around it. At least two of these are places life might possibly be found.

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Guests

• Michele Dougherty 2 episodes
  Professor of Space Physics and Head of the Department of Physics at Imperial College London, and principle investigator of the magnetometer instrument on the JUICE spacecraft (JUICE is the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, a mission launched by the European Space Agency in April 2023)
• Leigh Fletcher No other episodes
  Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester, and interdisciplinary scientist for JUICE
• Carolin Crawford 19 episodes
  Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and Emeritus Member of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge

Reading list

• Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere
  Fran Bagenal, Timothy E. Dowling and William B. McKinnon (eds.) (Cambridge University Press, 2004) Google Books →
• How Well Do We Understand the Belt/Zone Circulation of Giant Planet Atmospheres?
  Leigh N. Fletcher, Yohai Kaspi, Tristan Guillot and Adam P. Showman
• Jupiter Science Enabled by ESA's Jupiter Ice Moons Explorer
  Leigh N. Fletcher et al
• Universe
  Roger Freedman and William J. Kaufmann (W.H. Freeman, 2010) Google Books →
• The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System
  Kenneth R. Lang (Cambridge University Press, 2011) Google Books →
• Planetary Climates
  Andrew P. Ingersoll (Princeton University Press, 2013) Google Books →
• Planets: A Very Short Introduction
  David A. Rothery (Oxford University Press, 2010) Google Books →

Related episodes

• The Planets
  
  27 May, 2004 520 Astronomy
• Extra Terrestrials
  
  4 Apr, 2002 520 Astronomy
• The Kuiper Belt
  
  2 Mar, 2017 520 Astronomy
• Saturn
  
  14 Jan, 2016 520 Astronomy
• The Sun
  
  1 Jan, 2015 520 Astronomy
• Venus
  
  27 Dec, 2018 520 Astronomy
• The Death of Stars
  
  9 Jun, 2022 520 Astronomy
• Galaxies
  
  29 Jun, 2006 520 Astronomy
• The Earth’s Core
  
  30 Apr, 2015 550 Earth sciences and geology
• The Cool Universe
  
  6 May, 2010 520 Astronomy

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Programme ID: m001n8mv

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001n8mv

Auto-category: 523.4 (Planets and their moons)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello, Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and it's hard to imagine a world more alien and different from Earth.