Solar System Tour – Jupiter

Back in the 70’s Ben Bova (then the editor of Analog magazine) along with Trudy Bell, produced a wonderfully illustrated book caled Close Up: New Worlds that billed itself as “astounding modern views of the solar system”.

Well, that was 1977.  To date it is to note that it includes Pluto among the planets.

I used that book as a resource while designing SF strategy board games.  It was a great compendium of both known fact and SF speculation.

NASA and other space agencies have taken a lot more pictures since then with Hubble, other space telescopes and a huge variety of probes either taking up orbits or doing fly-bys.

Lets just say it’s been a while since anyone has taken a grand tour the way that Ben and Trudy did back in ’77.  So we’re going to reprise that book using the latest and greatest.

Jupiter lies at a distance from the sun of nearly 483 million miles
It is approximately 87,000 miles in diameter
Jupiter takes 12 years to orbit the Sun
Jupiter has an axial tilt of 25.2 degrees
The surface temperature on Jupiter is -234 degrees (Fahrenheit)
It’s escape velocity is 134,664 miles per hour
Its surface gravity is 81.3. feet/second squared

Jupiter is considered to be a Gas Giant planet.

This year, Jupiter will be visible throughout most of the  year.  From January to May 7, it is visible in the morning. From May until December, in the night sky.

NASA has a wonderful planetary information resource.  You can learn far more about Jupiter here

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