Aug

15

Watching Jupiter.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

August 15, 2008 |

Lately in the evenings I’ve been able to step out on my back patio and see the Moon and Jupiter hanging close to each other in the sky. A few nights ago they were almost on top of each other. Now they’re moving father apart. This time next week, according to Weather Underground, they won’t be in the sky together at all. I can’t look at Jupiter without hoping at least one of its moons really does harbor life. Europa is a strong contender, and I’ve heard that Callisto is possible as well. Then there’s strange, sad, battered Io. Named for a poor girl who Hera, Jupiter’s wife, turned into a cow and then tormented with gadflies, it’s somehow appropriate that Io is pockmarked with volcanoes, although, if anyone could stand on Io’s surface, they’d see beautiful auroras as hot volcanic matter spewed hundreds of miles interacts with Jupiter’s magnetic field.

I remember how excited I was as a kid to hear about the Voyager 1 flyby of Jupiter back in 1979. I was lucky enough to have a teacher who was excited about it too and set the whole class to building a model of the solar system. I was one of the lucky ones who got to paint Jupiter. One girl kept insisting that everything had to be in even, straight lines because, according to her, that was how Jupiter really looked. The rest of us ignored her. Then we started seeing close-up pictures that showed swirling, mottled masses of clouds blending into each other and, of course, the Great Red Spot. A few years later my parents bought me a copy of the National Geographic Picture Atlas Of Our Universe by Roy Gallant and I learned that Jupiter didn’t have a solid surface. More like a miniature failed star, Jupiter–along with Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus–is a ball of mostly liquid hydrogen topped with a complex chemical mix of clouds. The papier maché version my class made was, in its own way, pretty close to the real thing.

universe.jpg


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Morgan on August 15, 2008 7:43 pm

    Love this post. Love it. Love it.
    I didn’t even know that about junior. For the daughter of a lifelong amateur astronomer (Mom) I’m woefully ignorant of the wonders of space. Lucas is prompting to learn more, and just the cover of that book would make his eyes pop out.
    I have checked out some of the links in your sidebar. You, Christopher, are a wealth of information.
    I should come here more often. Perhaps I could stay out of trouble, which is where I’ve spent my day.

  2. Christopher on August 16, 2008 9:37 am

    You make trouble sound like it’s a bad thing. Anyway please keep dropping by. You never know what you’ll find here–and neither do I. As long as you’re checking things out, check out the “Keep Looking Up” section under categories. Astronomy, heck, science in general has always fascinated me.
    And if you can find a copy of that book it really is amazing. The cover is nothing compared to the excellent illustrations, diagrams, and even a fanciful section on what life forms might be found on other planets.

  3. Morgan on August 16, 2008 5:05 pm

    I’ll have to make sure I look into the book both for Lucas and myself. And I will certainly keep stopping by. Your blog is awesome. Love it.

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