“E fantastico!", exclaims Galileo.
“Nah...listen Galileo, that’s just JUPITER with a few moons to keep it company.”
Is that so??
It’s January 1610 and Galileo Galilei is 35 kms from Venice, checking Jupiter through his new-fangled telescope. Although he can’t realize Jupiter’s size he finds 4 moons. For cryin’ out loud - he's even inclined to agree with Copernicus proposing that outrageous theory that the 6 known planets orbit around the Sun...but he still 'hedges his bets' on that one. Is Galileo wrong to refer to these moons as planets?
‘Jou pater’ (Father Jove) is HUGE: a mass greater than all other planets put together, and compared with Earth: 318 times greater, a volume 1000 times larger, and a magnetic field 14 times stronger. Could you take 10 hours to rotate your belt at 45,250 kmh? This unique gaseous planet RADIATES twice the energy it receives, being the centre of its own MINIATURE SOLAR SYSTEM with at least 64 satellites including the very unique Galilean Moons: volcanic Io, icy Europa, rocky Ganymede and Callisto of silicate and ice. Its Great Red Spot alone is three times the size of Earth and has been storming for at least as long as we’ve been watching.
By the way, Jupiter sits right where Bode’s Law says it should be at 5.2 times further from the Sun than Earth, and in its 12 year orbit spends one year aligned with each of the constellations of the Zodiac – right now it’s Cancer’s turn. How neat.
Did we learn anything new?
Photo credit: noao.edu
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