Our solar system is beautiful and unique. Unlike other star systems, our planets are vastly different sizes and spaced farther apart. Plus, our planets are breathtaking. One of our planets in particular is a favorite amongst the rest. No, not lonesome Pluto that the family disowned — but Jupiter. There are dozens of weird facts about Jupiter that you might not know about.
The fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the solar system, Jupiter is a beautiful gas giant planet with swirling latitudinal bands. And if you’re obsessed with our solar system as well, then you’ll be interested in these weird facts about Jupiter.
6. Jupiter’s Many Moons
Every night we’re greeted by our beautiful moon. But imagine if we had several accompanying us? That’s precisely what Jupiter has. With 95 moons, Jupiter has one of the best collections of moons in our solar system.
The four largest moons known as the Galilean moons include Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and they’re some of the most intriguing celestial bodies in the solar system. Io has intense volcanic activity, Europa has the potential for harboring a subsurface ocean, Ganymede is the largest moon, and Callisto features an ancient, cratered surface.
6. The Red Spot
Jupiter didn’t get its fame only for being a giant, it also received its love for the giant dots that are scattered around its surface. Jupiter’s Red Spot was a mystery for some time, but eventually, it was figured out that it was a gigantic storm.
The largest and most powerful hurricane recorded on Earth spanned over 1,000 miles across with winds gusting up to 200 miles per hour — that would cover all U.S. states east of Texas.
However, the Red Spot is so massive that it’s twice as wide as Earth itself. The Red Dot has been swirling for over 150 years now, maybe even longer. While the Spot is slowly shrinking, it’s still an incredible feat for a storm to go for such a long time.
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5. Jupiter Also Has Rings
When you think of planets that have rings in our solar system, the first one that comes to mind is Saturn. The beautiful rings of Saturn are made of rocky and icy fragments and are believed to be pieces of moons, asteroids, and comets that were shattered under the force of its gravity.
Jupiter, however, might not be the most common planet that comes to mind. One of the many weird facts about Jupiter is that it, too, has rings. While faint, the Jovian rings were the third ring system to be discovered in the solar system in 1979. They’re so faint because they consist mainly of dust and are composed of four main components: a thick inner torus of particles, a relatively bright main ring, and two wide and thick outer rings.
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4. The Gravity’s Strength
Another one of the many weird facts about Jupiter is that there is a possibility that Jupiter played a protective role on Earth. With its gigantic size, Jupiter has a strong gravitational pull and acts as a guardian of Earth and the other inner planets.
It essentially shields Earth from potential cosmic threats, making it an indispensable part of our planetary neighborhood. Jupiter diverts comets and asteroids away from the inner planets, reducing the risk and frequency of catastrophic impacts, which allows us to thrive here on Earth.
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3. Days Are Short
Despite its massive size, Jupiter rotates fast and is one of the fastest-rotating planets in the solar system. One of the weird facts about Jupiter is that one day lasts just 10 hours on Earth despite it being almost 11 times larger.
The reason for this plays into its mass. As the planets condensed from the disco of material surrounding the infant Sun, they naturally conserved angular momentum. All gas giants have a high mass and end up with faster rotation rates, with Jupiter being the most massive, hence being the fastest.
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2. It Has Northern Lights
The Northern Lights are a beautiful phenomenon that happens by an interaction between the sun’s ultraviolet light and Earth’s atmosphere. And interestingly enough, Jupiter also has Northern Lights.
Characterized by massive pulsating X-ray flares, these lights were discovered over 40 years ago and have left astronomers baffled. But finally, there’s an answer. Jupiter’s Northern Lights are much more complex and more powerful than Earth’s, making it an incredible discovery.
And they’re created by electromagnetic waves, which lead to the gathering of sulfur and oxygen ions over Jupiter’s poles. They discovered that Jupiter did this like clockwork, creating the pulse every 27 minutes. It’s by far one of the best, yet weird facts about Jupiter.
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1. What Is Jupiter Made Of?
Winning the number one spot on the list of weird facts about Jupiter, we have the fact about what Jupiter is made out of. As a gas giant, what’s its surface like? What’s its atmosphere like?
Essentially, Jupiter’s atmosphere is a turbulent mix of hydrogen, helium, ammonia, and methane that create colorful bands and zones that you can see from the outside. These bands and zones are essentially powerful jet streams and storms. Some discovered even suggest that water cloud may exist deep within the atmosphere.
As far as the surface, Jupiter doesn’t have one. Instead, it’s made entirely of gas. The only question is the core of Jupiter, it’s still unknown if it’s solid or not. Even if it does have a solid core, it’s unlikely that we’d be familiar with what it would be made of. Jupiter likely had a solid surface at one point but was probably eroded over time.
