The Planets- Jupiter 2

Jupiter rotates, a giant magnetic field is generated in its electrically conducting liquid interior. Trapped within Jupiter's magnetosphere - the area in which magnetic field lines encircle the planet from pole to pole - are enough charged particles to make the inner portions of Jupiter's magnetosphere the most deadly radiation environment of any of the planets, both for humans and for electronic equipment. The

"tail" of Jupiter's magnetic field - that portion stretched behind the planet as the solar wind rushes past - has been detected as far as Saturn's orbit. Jupiter's rings and moons are embedded in an intense radiation belt of electrons and ions trapped in the magnetic field. The Jovian magnetosphere, which comprises these particles and fields, balloons one to three extending more than one billion kilometers behind Jupiter - as far as Saturn's orbit.

Discovered in 1979 by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, Jupiter's rings were a surprise: a flattened main ring and an inner cloud-like ring, called the halo, are both composed of small, dark particles. A third ring, known as the gossamer ring because of its transparency, it is actually three rings of microscopic debris from three small moons: Amalthea, Thebe, and Adrastea. Jupiter's ring system may be formed by dust kicked up as interplanetary meteoroids smash into the giant planet's four small inner moons. The main ring probably comes from the tiny moon Metis.

In December 1995, NASA's Galileo spacecraft dropped a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere. Carrying six scientific instruments, the probe survived the crushing pressure and searing heat for nearly an hour, collecting the first direct measurements of Jupiter's atmosphere, the first real data about the chemistry of a gas planet. Following the release of the probe, the Galileo spacecraft began a multi-year orbit of Jupiter, observing each of the largest moons from close range several times.

Next- Planet Jupiter part3