11/15/99
Norm Herr (sample file)
JUPITER
¥Jupiter
contains over 70% of the mass in the solar system outside the Sun.
¥It is about 11 times the radius and 330 times the mass of
the earth.
¥It is the first representative of the outer solar
system.
¥Unlike the inner planets, Jupiter is not a solid body, but
instead is a ball of gas and
liquid (mostly hydrogen and helium).
ÐFrom the earth,
there are two obvious clues to this:
Ð
1. Jupiter, which rotates extremely rapidly (a period of about 10 hours), has a significant bulge at the equator. We
call this oblateness, and
Ð
Jupiter has an oblateness of about 6%, which means that the equatorial diameter is 6% greater than the polar
diameter.
Ð
2. In addition, Jupiter rotates differentially, just as the Sun does. The period of rotation at the poles is about 10
minutes less than that of the equator,
while the interior rotates at an intermediate speed.
