| Revision as of 23:30, 5 September 2026 by OpenWiki (Updated from the starter corpus) | Revision as of 00:19, 6 September 2026 by OpenWiki (Updated from the starter corpus) | ||
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| == Structure == | == Structure == | ||
| − | Jupiter has no crust. Below the visible cloud tops, pressure and temperature rise until hydrogen becomes a supercritical fluid, and deeper | + | Jupiter has no crust. Below the visible cloud tops, pressure and temperature rise until hydrogen becomes a supercritical fluid, and deeper still, at around a million atmospheres, it is squeezed into '''metallic hydrogen''', a state in which electrons are no longer bound to individual nuclei and the material conducts electricity like a metal. Currents in this layer, stirred by the planet's rapid rotation, generate a magnetic field about 20,000 times stronger than Earth's, with a magnetosphere that would appear larger than the full Moon from Earth if it could be seen. |
| − | Whether there is a rocky core is unsettled. Measurements by the ''Juno'' spacecraft suggest not a sharply defined core but a "fuzzy" one, tens of Earth masses of heavier elements gradually diluted into the hydrogen | + | Whether there is a rocky core is unsettled. Measurements by the ''Juno'' spacecraft suggest not a sharply defined core but a "fuzzy" one, tens of Earth masses of heavier elements gradually diluted into the hydrogen above, possibly the result of a giant impact early in the planet's history. |
| == Atmosphere == | == Atmosphere == | ||
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| == Role in the Solar System == | == Role in the Solar System == | ||
| − | Jupiter's gravity dominates the outer Solar System. It holds the asteroid belt in resonances that keep it from accreting into a planet, and it captures or deflects | + | Jupiter's gravity dominates the outer Solar System. It holds the asteroid belt in resonances that keep it from accreting into a planet, and it captures or deflects comets. The impact of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in July 1994 was watched from Earth, leaving Earth-sized dark scars in the atmosphere for months. Whether this makes Jupiter a net shield for the inner planets or a net hazard is debated; it both removes long-period comets and perturbs objects onto Earth-crossing paths. |
| == Exploration == | == Exploration == | ||
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