Monday, July 28, 2014

Jupiter


Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, has 67 moons and counting. Ranging hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of kilometers away from the gas giant, their orbits vary wildly in shape and size. The inner moons, many of which have been imaged close-up by NASA spacecraft, have regular, circular orbits matching the angle of Jupiter's spin.

But beyond this orderly scene lies a plethora of oddly shaped moons. Likely the remains of collisions between asteroids snatched up by Jupiter's massive gravitational pull, these moons have long, elliptical orbits that are angled in multiple directions and can take years to complete.

Source and further reading:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011173/
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Jupiter

Animation credit:NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=3604
#jupiter   #nasa   #space   #planetsandmoons  

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