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Jupiter

Reference > Science > The Solar System
 
  • Jupiter is not just the largest of all the planets - if you took all the other planets in the solar system and combined them into one massive planet, that giant planet would still only be half the mass of Jupiter!
  • Jupiter is the first of the gas giants - the outer planets which are made up primarily of gasses, with a smaller, rocky core.
  • The largest planet also boasts having the largest moon orbiting it; Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, bigger even than the planet Mercury!
  • In his book 2010: Odyssey Two, Arthur C. Clarke presented the astonishing possibility that maybe the core of Jupiter is actually a giant diamond, formed by carbon under massive pressure.
  • Arthur C. Clarke also described, in his book2001: A Space Odyssey, how spaceships might use Jupiter to "slingshot" to the outer planets. This process has been done by unmanned craft exploring the outer limits of the solar system.
  • Jupiter is famous for its Great Red Spot (known also simply as the GRS). This spot is a massive storm, which has been in existence for at least four centuries! The storm is bigger than the entire planet Earth!
  • Though they are not as obvious as Saturn's rings, Jupiter does have rings of its own.

Questions

1.
According to Arthur C. Clarke, what might be at the center of Jupiter?
2.
What is a gas giant?
3.
What causes a diamond to form?
4.
What does GRS stand for? What is the GRS?
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