GALILEO SCIENTISTS REPORT NEW JUPITER FINDINGS

Internet UFO Group Media Archive

From:NewsProfiles@aol.net
Title:GALILEO SCIENTISTS REPORT NEW JUPITER FINDINGS
Source:Reuter
Date:March 19, 1996


SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 (Reuter) - Data about Jupiter sent

back by the U.S. space agency's Galileo probe suggest that the

planet's bulk composition has not changed since it formed

several billion years ago, scientists said on Monday.

Scientists analysing data from the Galileo probe revised

some of the initial findings they had announced in January, one

month after the probe made a suicidal plunge into Jupiter's

hostile atmosphere.

The scientists, who presented the updated findings at a

conference in Houston, also estimated that winds on Jupiter can

rage at more than 400 miles (640 km) per hour, higher than their

earlier estimates of up to 330 miles (530 km) an hour.

The scientists said they now believe that the ratio of

helium to hydrogen by mass in Jupiter's atmosphere is about 24

percent, similar to that of the sun. In January, they had

estimated the ratio for Jupiter, the solar system's largest

planet, at about 14 percent.

The new ratio between helium and hydrogen, elements that

make up 99 percent of Jupiter's atmosphere, suggests Jupiter's

bulk composition has not changed since the planet formed several

billion years ago, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA) scientists said.

``This then confirms that Jupiter is much hotter in its

interior than its neighbour Saturn, the next largest planet in

the solar system,'' Galileo probe project scientist Richard

Young said. ``It also may force scientists to revise their

projections for the size of the rocky core believed to exist

deep in the centre of Jupiter.''

Jupiter, a giant gas planet, has no surface like Earth's.

The scientists said that several heavy elements including

carbon, nitrogen and sulphur are more abundant on Jupiter than

in the sun.

``This implies that the influx of meteorites and other small

bodies into Jupiter over the aeons since its formation has

played an important role in how Jupiter has evolved,'' said

Young, a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Centre near San

Francisco.

However, minimal organic compounds were detected suggesting

the chances of finding biological activity on Jupiter similar to

that found on Earth are extremely remote, the scientists said.

Further analysis of probe data has confirmed the preliminary

report that the Jovian atmosphere appears to be relatively dry,

they said.

Previous studies had predicted a water abundance for the

planet of twice the solar level, based on the sun's oxygen

content. But actual probe measurements suggest Jupiter's

atmosphere contains less water than the sun.

Galileo, launched from the space shuttle Atlantis in 1989,

took six years to travel to Jupiter. The spacecraft released a

probe which entered Jupiter's atmosphere last December, sending

back 57 minutes of data before disintegrating.

The spacecraft itself is set to continue orbiting Jupiter

for the next two years, sending back more information.

The project has cost about $1.35 billion.