Far-Out Guide to Jupiter

* Reviews *

Gigantic Jupiter—striped with clouds, host to a storm raging for 300 years—is one of the planets explored in this Far-Out Guide to the Solar System series, offering a multitude of facts to report-writers, focusing on what astronomers know and the many perplexing questions still to be answered. Young researchers will learn that Jupiter (named for the Roman king of gods) is the largest planet, with sixty-two moons and four rings (so far discovered); a spinning ball of the gases hydrogen and helium, Jupiter has no land. Though Galileo discovered Jupiters four largest moons in 1610, it was not until 1994 that space probe Galileo began to explore its weather, atmosphere, and moons, also recording a comet crashing into the planet. In one of the boxed Far-Out Facts scattered through the text, readers discover that Jupiter has an enormous, powerful magnetic field. Three pages of Fast Facts add more information; for example, Jupiters moon, Europa, may conceal an ocean under its ice. A Jupiter Timeline of Exploration and Discovery introduces a section about space missions that have helped astronomers learn about Jupiter. While flybys and probes have gathered most information, the Hubble Space Telescope and giant telescopes in Hawaii (discovering twenty-two new moons) have contributed from Earth. Illustrations are color photos, computer-generated paintings, and diagrams. An especially dramatic picture shows Galileos probe heading into a swirling storm in Jupiters atmosphere. What is next for Jupiter? Mission Juno took off in 2011, on a five-year solar-powered trip to answer questions about Jupiters core, auroras, atmosphere, and help scientists understand how and where this gas giant was formed. Included are a respectable glossary and a list of books and websites about Jupiter explorations, planet-watching, and the solar system., Children's Literature