How old is planet jupiter

The other formed farther from the sun. The tungsten isotopes also showed that both groups existed at the same time. The groups existed between about 1 million and 4 million years after the start of the solar system. The solar system was born about 4. That means something must have kept the two groups separated.

The most likely candidate is Jupiter, Kruijer says. That would make Jupiter the oldest planet in the solar system. Its early existence would have created a gravitational barrier: That barrier would have kept the two rock neighborhoods segregated. Jupiter would then have continued growing at a slower rate for the next few billion years. The planet topped out at times the mass of the Earth. The paper was published the week of June She works at Arizona State University in Tempe.

She is a cosmochemist. That means she studies the chemistry of the matter in the universe. Many planetary systems far beyond the sun have large, close-in planets. These can be rocky planets a bit bigger than Earth, known as super-Earths. They are about two to 10 times the mass of Earth. Or, there can be gassy mini-Neptunes or hot Jupiters. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the solar system — an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water.

Scientists think that, at depths perhaps halfway to the planet's center, the pressure becomes so great that electrons are squeezed off the hydrogen atoms, making the liquid electrically conducting like metal.

Jupiter's fast rotation is thought to drive electrical currents in this region, generating the planet's powerful magnetic field. It is still unclear if deeper down, Jupiter has a central core of solid material or if it may be a thick, super-hot and dense soup. It could be up to 90, degrees Fahrenheit 50, degrees Celsius down there, made mostly of iron and silicate minerals similar to quartz.

The planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet crush, melt, and vaporize spacecraft trying to fly into the planet. Jupiter's appearance is a tapestry of colorful cloud bands and spots. The gas planet likely has three distinct cloud layers in its "skies" that, taken together, span about 44 miles 71 kilometers.

The top cloud is probably made of ammonia ice, while the middle layer is likely made of ammonium hydrosulfide crystals.

The innermost layer may be made of water ice and vapor. The vivid colors you see in thick bands across Jupiter may be plumes of sulfur and phosphorus-containing gases rising from the planet's warmer interior. Jupiter's fast rotation — spinning once every 10 hours — creates strong jet streams, separating its clouds into dark belts and bright zones across long stretches. With no solid surface to slow them down, Jupiter's spots can persist for many years. Stormy Jupiter is swept by over a dozen prevailing winds, some reaching up to miles per hour kilometers per hour at the equator.

The Great Red Spot, a swirling oval of clouds twice as wide as Earth, has been observed on the giant planet for more than years. More recently, three smaller ovals merged to form the Little Red Spot, about half the size of its larger cousin.

Anticyclones, which rotate in the opposite direction, are colder at the top but warmer at the bottom. The findings also indicate these storms are far taller than expected, with some extending 60 miles kilometers below the cloud tops and others, including the Great Red Spot, extending over miles kilometers. This surprising discovery demonstrates that the vortices cover regions beyond those where water condenses and clouds form, below the depth where sunlight warms the atmosphere.

With their gravity data, the Juno team was able to constrain the extent of the Great Red Spot to a depth of about miles kilometers below the cloud tops. Belts and Zones In addition to cyclones and anticyclones, Jupiter is known for its distinctive belts and zones — white and reddish bands of clouds that wrap around the planet. Strong east-west winds moving in opposite directions separate the bands.

Juno previously discovered that these winds, or jet streams, reach depths of about 2, miles roughly 3, kilometers. Researchers are still trying to solve the mystery of how the jet streams form. But at deeper levels, below the water clouds, the opposite is true — which reveals a similarity to our oceans. Over time, mission scientists determined these atmospheric phenomena are extremely resilient, remaining in the same location. Juno data also indicates that, like hurricanes on Earth, these cyclones want to move poleward, but cyclones located at the center of each pole push them back.

This balance explains where the cyclones reside and the different numbers at each pole. The Jovian magnetosphere is the region of space influenced by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. It balloons , to 2 million miles 1 to 3 million kilometers toward the Sun seven to 21 times the diameter of Jupiter itself and tapers into a tadpole-shaped tail extending more than million miles 1 billion kilometers behind Jupiter, as far as Saturn's orbit. Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.

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By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. June 13, Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. More information: Thomas S. Kruijer et al. Age of Jupiter inferred from the distinct genetics and formation times of meteorites, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: Provided by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

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