• Question: what would it be like if you landed on Jupiter

    Asked by anon-193409 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma, Carl on 13 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Carl Heron

      Carl Heron answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      SalvationG142……you should definitely pursue your interests in astronomy…..

      Jupiter ranges from extreme cold to extreme hot. The planet has no surface to speak of, being a GAS GIANT, so the temperature cannot be accurately measured in one place – and varies greatly between its upper atmosphere (very cold -100 degree centigrade….. colder than my house in winter) and core (very, very hot).

    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      I can only but imagine!

    • Photo: Iain Staniland

      Iain Staniland answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      I have always been fascinated by Jupiter with its enormous size and its red spot. But as Carl said I am not sure you could actually land on Jupiter as it is a gas planet. However you would be able to land on one of its many moons. Indeed Europa is probably the most promising place within our solar system where life could exist. How amazing would that be!

    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      The others answers to this question seem to have covered most things! We don’t actually know if there is any solid surface on Jupiter at all. Its clouds are thought to be about 30 miles (50 km) thick, and then below there is a 13,000 mile (21,000 km) thick layer of hydrogen and helium which changes from gas to liquid as the depth and pressure increase.
      So if you did manage to land, that’d be pretty impressive in itself! If you could stand on the surface of Jupiter, you would also experience intense gravity. The gravity at Jupiter’s surface is 2.5 times the gravity on Earth, so if you weighed 100 pounds on Jupiter, then you’d weigh 250 pounds on Jupiter. Of course, there’s no actual surface, so you’d just sink into the planet if you tried to stand on it.

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