Page 13 - Life beyond the Karman

Jupiter
Jupiter has a long history of surprising scientists – all the way back to 1610 when Galileo Galilei found the first moons beyond Earth. That discovery changed the way we see the universe.
Fifth in line from the sun, Jupiter is by far the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined.
Jupiter’s equator is equivalent to eleven earths.
Jupiter’s familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.
Jupiter orbits about 484 million miles (778 million kilometres) or 5.2 Astronomical Units (AU) from our sun (Earth is one AU from the sun). It rotates once about every 10 hours (a Jovian day), but takes about 12 Earth years to complete one orbit of the sun (a Jovian year).
Jupiter’s atmosphere is mainly made up of hydrogen and helium.
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second-largest planet in our solar system.
Saturn is unique among the planets. It is not the only planet to have rings – made of chunks of ice and rock – but none of the planets are as spectacular or as complicated as Saturn.
Like Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball. Its atmosphere is mainly made up of hydrogen (H) and helium (He). It orbits at a distance of about 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometres) from the sun. Saturn has the most spectacular ring system, with seven rings and several gaps and divisions between them.
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun at a distance of about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometres). It is about four times wider than Earth and has the third- largest diameter in our solar system.
Uranus was the first planet found with the aid of a telescope. It was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star.
It was two years later that the object was universally accepted as a new planet, in part because of observations by astronomer Johann Elert Bode.
Uranus is an ice giant. Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of “icy” materials – water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core. Its atmosphere is mainly made up of molecular hydrogen and atomic helium, with a small amount of methane.
Like Venus, Uranus rotates east to west, but it is unique in that it rotates on its side.
LIFE BEYOND TH
E KÁRMÁN LINE - OUTER SPACE
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