{"id":6387,"date":"2022-11-10T20:54:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T18:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uni-mag.gr\/the-nai-team-journey-with-the-time-ship-2\/"},"modified":"2024-02-06T19:26:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T17:26:51","slug":"the-nai-team-jupiter-a-planet-that-wanted-to-be-a-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uni-mag.gr\/en\/the-nai-team-jupiter-a-planet-that-wanted-to-be-a-star\/","title":{"rendered":"The NAI team:\u00a0A planet that wanted to be a star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The NAI team: Jupiter, a planet that wanted to be a star<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

96 Ianthi and 431 Nefeli are two asteroids that live in the main asteroid belt, located between the planets Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While they are playing in their asteroid playground, they have a crystal clear view of the huge planet Jupiter. His red spot is so charming and beautiful! The two asteroids can’t stop admiring it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is big, very big. The whole Earth fits inside it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u03a3\u03cd\u03b3\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03b7 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u0393\u03ae\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b5 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u03b7 <\/em>\u03b5\u03c1\u03c5\u03b8\u03c1\u03ae \u03ba\u03b7\u03bb\u03af\u03b4\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u0394\u03af\u03b1<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This red spot is actually a huge storm that lasts for many years, about 300 Earth years. It’s a cyclone. Similar cyclones, much smaller, also exist on Earth. They are formed by rotating gases. They rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, and clockwise in the southern. Similar to these terrestrial cyclones, but actually quite bigger, is also the Great Red Spot of the planet Jupiter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After admiring the red spot, 98 Ianthi says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> I heard that Jupiter is very sad today. Nefeli, shall we go and see what\u2019s happening and help him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

431 Nefeli:<\/strong> Hey Jupiter? Why are you sad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter:<\/strong> Well.. because I’m big, full of hydrogen and helium like our Sun, but still a planet rather than a star\u2026 And continues with a complaint…Wouldn’t it be beautiful if people had two Suns to light and warm them? They would write beautiful myths and stories for us! If there were two Suns in the sky, all humans would have two shadows each!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, as impossible as it may seem, two Suns would not offer much more than one Sun offers. First of all, if our planetary system had a binary star it would be very difficult if not impossible to have life on Earth as we know it now. Furthermore, Jupiter as a star would not provide much extra warmth to humans on Earth. It is 4 times farther from Earth than the Sun. The energy that Jupiter would provide would be only a very small percentage of that provided by the Sun (only 6%)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ianthi wanted to say something nice to Jupiter to make him feel good. After giving it a long thought, she said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> Jupiter hold on, you are the largest of the planets in size and mass. Quite rightly they call you \u201cthe king of planets\u201d. You are the third brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

431 Nefeli:<\/strong> You know, in ancient Greek mythology, the god Zeus is the father of all gods and men. You are the god of the sky and lightning. You are the mightiest and greatest of all the ancient Greek mythological beings and gods. Usually, you are depicted holding a thunderbolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter is now much more content and happy than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> And your most impressive feature of all, which has fascinated and inspired many scientists and artists, is that you are surrounded by 92 moons (update from February 2023)<\/em>! Four of them are the largest and best known: Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The four larger moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Kallisto, Ganymede)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The largest moon of Jupiter is Ganymede. It is also the largest moon in our solar system. It is very large, larger than the planet Mercury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ganymede compared to Mercury<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ganymede is full of ice-filled craters and grooves. Beneath its crust is a frozen ocean. Bright beams of ice stream radially from its recent collisions with asteroids and comets. Its entire surface looks as if someone has dragged a huge rake over it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> Look Nefeli, a huge ice rink! Let’s put on our ice skates and dance a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they did. They danced, and did figures, turns, and somersaults in the air…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

431 Nefeli:<\/strong> I’m tired. I had a great time, but isn’t it time to go see Jupiter’s next moon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> Let’s go to the next one, Callisto. It’s very interesting there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

431 Nefeli:<\/strong> I know. NASA announced in 2003 that a manned mission to Callisto would be possible in 2040. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Callisto, photo by NASA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later, a space base could be built there for her close-up exploration of Jupiter’s other spies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> Nefeli, can you imagine this happening? Many people will come from Earth to live closer to us, in the asteroid belt where we live!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1: Artist\u2019s impression of a base on the surface of Callisto. Image credit: William Black.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> Nefeli, shall we take a break before the humans go to Europa? I\u2019m hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

431 Nefeli:<\/strong> I say let’s go eat pizza in Io.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Io, photo by NASA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Io is the driest moon of Jupiter. It has about 400 active volcanoes. It has high mountains, higher than Mount Everest on Earth. It is covered by lava and its color is due to the sulfur from the volcanoes. Looks like a nice, huge pizza! There the twin asteroids went to eat pizza and refill their strength for their next adventure in Europa, the other satellite of Jupiter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Europa, photo by NASA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Europa is slightly smaller than the Moon, with a thin atmosphere of oxygen. This Jupiter moon is one of the most likely places in the solar system to harbor life in the form of microbes. Unfortunately, nothing has been discovered yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> How difficult must it be to detect only microbes that live in Kallisto? To detect it, humans send machines from Earth that may already be contaminated with alien microbes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The necessary conditions for life also exist in other objects in our solar system, such as comets and other moons. However, most life recovery research has recently focused on Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Earth, people are so eager to study Jupiter and its moons. They have sent and are sending so many artificial satellites with modern instruments to meet and study it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One night 98 Ianthi shouts as loud as she can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

98 Ianthi:<\/strong> Wake up Nefeli, wake up now! On Earth, it is July 4, 2016. The Juno satellite must have reached Jupiter. Come on, let’s go quickly and see!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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