awarehorizon // atlas_record
Jupiter
A planet with no ground — only deepening atmosphere.
- classification
- Gas giant
- system
- Outer solar system
Jupiter is the most massive planet in the solar system, influential enough to shape the orbits of asteroids, comets and moons across a huge volume of space.
- Mean radius
- 69,911 km
- Surface gravity
- 24.79 m/s² at the 1-bar level
- Orbital period
- 11.86 Earth years
- Orbital distance
- 778.5 million km from the Sun (mean)
- Cloud-top temperature
- about −145 °C at the 1-bar level
Only values with an established scientific consensus are listed. Where a quantity is uncertain or model-dependent, it is discussed in the sections below rather than stated as data.
There is no solid surface
Pressure and density rise continuously with depth. Hydrogen transitions to a metallic, electrically conducting state in the deep interior.
The atmosphere is hydrogen and helium
Composition closely resembles the young Sun's, with enrichments in heavier elements that constrain how the planet formed.
Weather systems run deep
Gravity measurements show the banded flows extend thousands of kilometres below the visible clouds, not just across the surface.
Atmospheric entry probe
The Galileo probe descended into the clouds and measured composition, temperature and winds directly until it was destroyed.
Gravity-field mapping
Precise Doppler tracking of an orbiting spacecraft reveals the interior mass distribution and the depth of the zonal flows.
Spectroscopy
Absorption features in reflected and emitted light identify atmospheric species.
- Is the core compact or diffuse?Current data favour a 'fuzzy' core, but this remains a model-dependent inference.
- How much water does the deep atmosphere hold — a key constraint on where Jupiter formed?
- What powers and sustains the long-lived storms, including the Great Red Spot?
Items above are unresolved. Hypotheses are labelled as such and are not presented as confirmed findings.