My sister was lucky - she was given a real telescope for her birthday. Of course, it doesn’t increase it too much, but is that really that important? I myself looked at the starry sky for about forty minutes without stopping. And I even recognized one of the small round spots, which, in fact, is the largest planet in the Solar System.
Which planet is the largest in the Solar System?
The largest planet is Jupiter. It is more than 11 times larger than our Earth.
Jupiter also has many more satellites than our planet. You and I can only boast of having one and only one Moon.
At Jupiter at the moment we have counted as much 69 satellites- more than any other planet in the solar system. Of course, I won’t list them all. But I’ll still name the most famous:
- Callisto.
- Ganymede.
- Europe.
This magnificent quartet of Jupiterian moons discovered by Galileo, and did it whole 407 years ago.
Why is it difficult to fly to Jupiter?
The first reason is that it is located quite far from earth. Distance varies from 588.5 to 968.6 million km. Why such a large spread? The fact is that the planets, revolving around the Sun, cyclically approach and then move away from each other. So in order to fly faster, you need to guess the moment when the planets will be well located relative to each other.
The second problem is landing. The space probes that are sent to explore this cosmic behemoth can not Fine sit on its gas surface. All they have to do is immerse themselves in the atmosphere - and enormous pressure planets flatten the probe into a cake.
Yes and radiation near Jupiter also greatly interferes with the operation of spacecraft, often leading to severe malfunctions or even large losses of collected data.
However, despite such enormous difficulties, Jupiter and its moons are being carefully studied. Some of moon gas giant attracts special attention - there, presumably, there is an ocean, which means she could life arises. It is unlikely that it will be intelligent, but even the very fact of its discovery will make humanity understand that we are not alone in space.
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When I was little, I stubbornly believed that the largest planet in the solar system was the large red and yellow ball at its center. Only later, when I entered school, did the teachers explain to me that this “planet” is the main star of our system - the Sun. This news made me continue to search for the largest planet in the solar system.
The planet is a giant
If you put planets in order of increasing mass, then the list will look like this:
- Mercury - 3.3·10^20 kilograms;
- Mars - 6.4·10^20 kilograms;
- Venus - 4.9·10^21 kilograms;
- Earth-6.0·10^21 kilograms;
- Uranium - 8.7·10^22 kilograms;
- Neptune - 1.0·10^23 kilograms;
- Saturn - 5.7·10^23 kilograms;
- Jupiter - 1.9·10^24 kilograms.
As seen , The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter.Diameter of this planet at the thickest part, at the equator, 11 thousand times larger than the diameter of the Earth. Of course, this size is much smaller than the diameter of the Sun, approximately 10 diameters of Jupiter will be equal to the diameter of the Sun. Proportional to its size, the mass of Jupiter is very large. If you put all the planets of the Solar System and their satellites on a scale (of course, “cosmically” huge) and compare their weight with the weight of Jupiter, then Jupiter will easily outweigh it all. If only increase the weight of the planets and their satellites by 2.5 times, the scales will balance.
The reason for Jupiter's huge size
This planet formed in the early period of the solar system's development, like Saturn, during this period more materials (gases) were free to create planets, therefore the size of the planets of that period is simply huge. High temperature + large amounts of gas made the planet Jupiter so large. The remaining planets have much less gas left, so they look inconspicuous. Also about gases, Jupiter's atmosphere is very dense, so it is difficult to give an accurate estimate of its size. All that humanity can observe now are the clouds of Jupiter and nothing more.
Someone bigger
In our solar system, Jupiter is definitely a giant, but there are other systems where the gas giants are closer to the star than Jupiter is to the Sun, so the temperature of these giants is higher, and therefore their size exceeds the size of Jupiter. WITHThe largest planet known to mankind is TRES-4.
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A couple of years ago, my son returned from school with the question: “How many planets are there in the solar system?” Recently it turned out that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Like, it's too small. It must be said that the debate on this issue continues to this day. Fortunately, there is no doubt about the most major planet in the solar system.
The largest planet in the solar system
Jupiter is often called a gas giant. It is the fifth planet from the Sun. Its diameter is about 143 thousand kilometers. Thus Jupiter is almost 11 times larger than Earth. Jupiter is so large that its mass is two and a half times greater than the combined mass of all the other planets in our galaxy. It is one of the few planets that can be seen without a telescope. That is why people in ancient times knew about the existence of this giant cosmic object, just like about the Sun, Moon and Venus. Pointing a small telescope towards Jupiter, we will see an impenetrable layer of clouds 4 thousand kilometers thick and among them a characteristic feature is a large red spot. First time I saw him in 1665 French astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Its size is comparable to the diameter of planet Earth. The active movement of gases in the atmosphere of Jupiter occurs under the influence of winds whose speed reaches 600 kilometers per hour.
Diamond in the center of Jupiter
Scientists believe that under a thick layer of rapidly moving clouds, at a depth of about 40 thousand kilometers, the planet's core is stationary. Nothing is known about its chemical and physical parameters. There is a hypothesis that, under enormous pressure and temperature, the core could have formed either in the form of fossilized hydrogen with the properties of a metal, or in the form of coal with all the properties of diamond. Can anyone imagine diamond is three times larger than Earth?
Rings and moons of Jupiter
Jupiter also has rings, similar to Saturn. Despite the fact that the total width of the rings is about 6 thousand kilometers, few people know about them. In addition to all of the above, the fact that Jupiter has 67 moons. The largest of them are:
- Europe;
- Ganymede;
- Callisto.
Solar System Vacuum Cleaner
The presence of a large number of satellites is due to the fact that Jupiter creates very strong gravitational field. Therefore, this planetary ball can be called a vacuum cleaner of the Solar system. Numerous asteroids and comets are sucked into Jupiter's atmosphere. Thus, these space objects no longer pose a threat to planet Earth and humanity.
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Giant of the Solar System
Everyone knows that largest planet - Jupiter. Due to the fact that it can be observed almost all night, the planet has been known since ancient times. "Mulu Babbar"- that’s what representatives of the ancient culture of Mesopotamia called it, which translated means "star-sun". A significant breakthrough in the study of this planet occurred only in the middle of the 17th century.. He became the first celestial body to have satellites discovered, and this discovery was made by the great Galileo. This is truly a giant among planets, but is it a planet??
Planet or star
Some scientists at the beginning of the last century believed that the giant radiates own light, and some of its characteristics like the sun:
- consists of hydrogen;
- emits x-rays;
- emits radio waves;
- has a gigantic magnetic field.
Observant astronomers immediately noticed that all of the above characterizes the stars, and not planets. That’s why the question arose: maybe it’s not a planet, but a star? Jupiter has a slight nuclear energy emitter, however, science says the opposite: the planet should not have anything like this. Indeed, the planets are only reflect rays and energy, while the stars themselves generate both. And what’s most interesting is that the outgoing energy significantly exceeds that transmitted to the planet Sun.
Another important point is the huge energy generation rate, which indicates that the planet is essentially "warming up". Observations made it possible to establish that, due to its gigantic mass, the planet absorbs particles "Solar Wind". As the number of captured particles increases, the mass of the planet itself increases, which is one of the main conditions for transformation into a star.
Scientists have calculated that in about 2 billion years Jupiter will catch up with the mass of the Sun, which will cause the emergence double solar system.
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In April of this year I observed one very bright object, lighting in my city is practically absent at night, so I was able to get a good look largest object in the solar system after the luminary itself - Jupiter. And it is not at all surprising that it was so clearly visible to the naked eye, because this planet superior our mass Earth a little more than 300 once. Accordingly, when she is at the point of opposition, the light reflected by her eclipses even Sirius.
The largest planet in the solar system - Jupiter and its origin
Jupiter located at a sufficient distance from the Sun to make it difficult for humanity to study it, and the atmosphere there is unfriendly, after all gas giant, after all. Showers of ammonia are hardly conducive to a comfortable immersion in the environment of any terrestrial device, especially since there is also no solid surface. No, it is quite possible that somewhere very deep there is core, but there is no hydrocarbon life there. The planet was formed due to large-scale phenomena, a series of chemical reactions and, probably, gravitational collapse, which marked the beginning of our system. Structurally Jupiter comprises:
- Multilayer atmosphere.
- Metallic hydrogen.
- The core, presumably stone.
Of course, it is not possible to obtain accurate data due to the characteristics of the celestial body, but cosmic devices, sent to direct closeness, allowed us to record more or less specific information at least about outer layer of the atmosphere.
Jupiter rotates around your axes just for 10 earth hours, which makes it in this regard not only the most massive, but also fast planet of the solar system. However, the orbit is so large that one a revolution around the Sun lasts 12 years. Due to its size, Jupiter has extremely powerful gravity, yes, approaching comet over a distance of 15 thousand kilometers was torn into many pieces. Plus, the planet has record number of satellites- about 70 objects.
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Who is the largest in the solar system?
Largest planet in the solar system is gas giant -Jupiter. Jupiter known to ancient people as supreme deity of ancient Rome. What’s interesting is that she was God’s wife Juno. Namely, this is the name of the spacecraft that was sent to explore the planet. What amazes us about this gas giant:
- To fill all volume of Jupiter, need to 1300 planets Earth.
- If there were stocks hydrogen And helium was in 80 times more,Jupiter would become a star.
- Jupiter has a small copy of the solar system- 4 months and 67 small satellites.
And also, as it turned out, Jupiter shrinks by 2 cm every year. Scientists have discovered that after its “birth” the giant was much larger and hotter. And it was formed much earlier than Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These four were formed from substances that gas planets were thrown into space.
The mystery of the planet - the big red spot
Jupiter It has amazing coloring. And all thanks to the winds that blow up 650 kilometers per hour. And here from the sky in the form of rain fall diamonds. Besides this wealth, on Jupiter constantly raging Hurricane, the diameter of which is 3 times the size of the Earth. From space it looks like giant red spot. It either increases or decreases, and its color still remains a mystery for scientists.
The giant's powerful magnetic field
A magnetic field this "god of the planets" exceeds the earth's by 20 thousand times. Electrically charged particles of this field are constantly at war with other planets, constantly attacking them. A Jupiter radiation may cause damage even good protected spacecraft. Jupiter also has three rings, although they are not as bright as Saturn's.
And also Jupiter like a real supreme god, protects planets from comets and asteroids. Its gravitational field affects asteroids and changes their orbits. Thanks to this, we are still alive.
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Currently, planets that are much larger than Earth have been discovered outside our solar system. They are called exoplanets. Our top 10 largest planets in the Universe will provide you with basic information about these giants.
10 KIC 10905746 b
It was discovered in 2011 by amateur astronomers as part of the Planet Hunters project. Located in the star system KIC 10905746, in the constellation Draco. A year on this planet lasts only 10 days. Exoplanet data such as mass and temperature are still unknown. But the radius of KIC 10905746 b is equal to 0.23 of the radius of Jupiter (this is 16443.2 km).
9 Kepler-64AB b
An exoplanet was discovered as part of the Planet Hunters (Zooniverse) project. It is located in the constellation Cygnus and orbits two stars Kepler-64AB at once, making a full orbit around them in 138.5 days. It is 5000 sv distant from the Sun. years. It belongs to the “gas giant” type and has a radius equal to 6.18 Earth radii (this is 34416.7 km).
8 KIC 6185331 b
The exoplanet was discovered in 2011 as part of the Planet Hunters program. Located in the star system KIC 6185331, in the constellation Draco. The planet orbits quite close to its parent star, so it is classified as a “gas giant” type. Its year consists of 50 Earth days. The radius of the planet is equal to 0.72 of the radius of Jupiter (this is 51474.2 km).
7 HD 189733A b
The exoplanet was discovered by the Spitzer Space Telescope. This bright blue hot Jupiter planet is located in the star system HD 189733A, in the constellation Vulpecula. An exoplanet always faces its parent star with only one side. Its close proximity to its star heats the planet up to 930 degrees Celsius on the bright side and up to 425 on the dark side. The radius of the planet is 1.138 times the radius of Jupiter (this is 81357.9 km).
6 TrES-2 b
The exoplanet TrES-2 b was discovered in 2006 as part of the Transatlantic Exoplanet Survey program. It is located in the star system GSC 03549-02811A, in the constellation Draco. This exoplanet belongs to the gas giant type and is the blackest planet, since it reflects less than 1% of the light falling on it from outside. The temperature of the exoplanet reaches 980 degrees Celsius. The radius of the planet is equal to 1.272 radii of Jupiter (this is 90937.8 km).
5 HD 209458 b (Osiris)
The exoplanet was discovered in the star system HD 209458, in the constellation Pegasus. It is located at a distance of 153 light from the Sun. years and is a comet planet, since the radiation of the parent star blows away a strong flow of gases from it. It belongs to the “hot Jupiter” type - its temperature reaches an average of 860 degrees Celsius. The radius of the planet is equal to 1.35 of the radius of Jupiter (this is 96514.2 km).
4 TrES-4A b
The exoplanet was discovered in 2006 as part of the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet (TrES) project. It is located in the star system TrES-4A, in the constellation Hercules. Due to its high temperature (over 1500 degrees Celsius), the planet is classified as a “hot Jupiter” type. The close location of the exoplanet to the parent star causes high heating of the planet. As a result, it is enveloped in a cloud of gas and dust. The exoplanet's atmosphere evaporates and forms a "comet tail." The radius of this planet is equal to 1.706 times the radius of Jupiter (this is 121965.4 km).
3 WASP-12b
The exoplanet was discovered in April 2008 as part of the SuperWASP exoplanet search project. It is located in the WASP-12 star system, in the constellation Auriga. It is considered one of the hottest planets - its temperature reaches 1500 degrees Celsius. A year here lasts 1 Earth day. WASP-12 b has its own satellite - WASP-12 b 1. The exoplanet has a radius equal to 1.83 radii of Jupiter (this is 130830.4 km).
2 WASP-17 b
The exoplanet was discovered in August 2009 as part of the SuperWASP project thanks to the South African Astronomical Observatory. Located in the star system WASP-17, in the constellation Scorpius. Its orbit is classified as retrograde, that is, the planet's orbit around its parent star occurs in the direction opposite to the rotation of the star. The radius of the exoplanet is 1.99 times the radius of Jupiter (this is 142269.1 km).
1 HAT-P-32 b
This largest exoplanet was discovered in June 2011 using the HATNet robotic telescopes. Located in the star system HAT-P-32, in the constellation Andromeda. The friability and low density of the planet, as well as the heating temperature (approximately 1615 degrees Celsius), give it the “hot Jupiter” type. The radius of the exoplanet is 2.037 times the radius of Jupiter (this is 145629.2 km).
There are more than 100 billion exoplanets in the Universe. True, at the moment only a small part of them has been discovered by scientists. But many probes have been sent into space and continue to explore space for the presence of new planets and star systems.
The solar system in which we live is just a small element of our galaxy, and the galaxy itself is a small element of the infinite Universe. Man has not yet fully studied his own system and the surrounding areas of space. Moreover, there are many “white spots” in the constellations that are light years away from us. The scale of the Universe is so large that only the largest planets are currently accessible to human study.
Giant from the constellation Hercules
But how big are they? Is it possible to answer the question, which planet is the largest? Scientists from Arizona (Lowell Laboratory) believe so.
In 2006, in the constellation Hercules, they discovered a planet whose dimensions exceed the dimensions of the Earth by 20 times. The planet was given the name TrES–4. This red-hot giant looks like a star, but is still a planet. TrES–4 is 1.7 times larger than Jupiter (the largest planet in the Solar System). According to currently available data, this is the largest planet in the Universe.
Hydrogen planet
Despite its titanic dimensions, TrES–4 is inferior to Jupiter in mass. This is explained by the fact that the planet consists of rarefied gases, mainly hydrogen. It is impossible to “land” on it. If a spaceship reached it, it would literally plunge into the planet. The density of its substance is only 0.33 g / cubic meter. cm. Therefore, with a radius of 1.706 RJ, the mass of the planet is only 0.917 MJ. Scientists are generally surprised that at such a low density the planet retains its shape without being dispersed in space.
The low density of TrES–4 is explained by its proximity to the star, which heats up the planet’s material. The temperature of its constituent gases reaches 1260 degrees Celsius (2300 Fahrenheit). The proximity to the star (4.5 million km) and the speed of its orbit also explain the surprisingly short year of TrES–4. The largest planet in space makes a complete revolution around its star in just 3.5 days.
The low density of the planet also gives rise to low gravity. As a result of this, and due to heating by the star, the planet cannot reliably retain its own matter. It is constantly enveloped in a cloud of gas and dust. TrES–4 is expanding, losing part of its atmosphere. As a result of this, the planet has a noticeable “tail”, like the ones that comets have.
At the time of its discovery, TrES–4 was the largest exoplanet known to mankind, but it was discovered only recently. This proves that the depths of space still hide many mysteries. Explorers of the Universe are constantly faced with new problems, and not all have yet been solved.