What If Jupiter Lost Its Atmosphere?

as our biggest planet jupiter's immense presence helps to hold our solar system together its massive size and gravitational pull give it a dense atmosphere a turbulent mix of hydrogen and helium this results in unfathomable storms that have lasted for centuries but let's imagine jupiter came in closer contact with an even bigger object the sun would the sun strip jupiter of its atmosphere and if so what would that look like what makes jupiter such a unique gas giant what is jupiter's core made of and what are hot jupiters and hot neptunes this is what if and here's what would happen if jupiter lost its atmosphere jupiter's gravity is nearly two and a half times stronger than earth's making it difficult for any atmosphere to escape thankfully it also keeps out incoming asteroids jupiter has dense layers of gas consisting of 90 hydrogen 10 helium and a few traces of ammonia sulfur methane and water vapor it has an extended dilute core made up of rocky material ice hydrogen and helium and unlike earth there's no sharp transition between jupiter's core and its outer atmosphere scientists believe the core could have been formed from a head-on collision about four and a half billion years ago between jupiter and a planetary embryo 10 times more massive than earth a recent discovery of the exoplanet ltt 9779b by nasa's transiting exoplanet survey satellite or tess may unlock even more answers to jupiter's formation and possible destruction you know if you're watching this video to help with your studies well then good on you what if explorer you know while getting the right facts are essential to a good essay having exceptional grammar can take you from a b-plus to an a-plus thankfully with grammerly premium improving your writing is easy and intuitive with grammarly premium you can write like a pro with advanced real-time feedback it's the perfect writing tool for anyone who wants to stand out with every word and if you're a little verbose like me well grammarly premium offers clarity and vocabulary suggestions to keep your sentences clear and concise and grammarly supports several platforms with their desktop editor browser plugin and mobile apps they're available pretty much everywhere i type now grammarly doesn't just correct your mistakes it helps you build up your skills as a writer you can elevate your writing now with twenty percent off grammarly premium by signing up at grammarly.com slash what if that's twenty percent off grammarly premium at g r a m a r l y dot com slash what if nasa's discovery of the jupiter-like exoplanet ltt-9779b has captivated the scientific community with its miraculously close orbit to its star while jupiter maintains a safe distance from the sun ltt 9779b is so close to its star that its atmosphere is evaporating at an accelerating pace what makes it so unique is that close orbits are usually reserved for earth-like or jupiter-like planets but ltt-9779b is somewhere in between closer in scale to neptune with an hot temperature of about 1725 degrees astronomers have unimaginatively named it hot neptune i am clever guys personally i would have gone with the blue inferno astronomers believe that the exoplanet may have formed further away from its star and has slowly made its way closer and closer over millions of years the closer it gets to its star more and more of its atmosphere evaporates giving it a squished almost football-like appearance american football ltt 977b is losing its atmosphere because it has surpassed the critical distance where a planet begins to lose mass due to the tidal forces caused by another celestial body this is known as the roche limit luckily jupiter is far enough away from the sun to maintain its mass and its moons are far enough away from jupiter not to be absorbed so why do most gas giants like jupiter reside so far away from the sun well all planets were built in the same way the sun's gravity pulled dust and rock together while the sun burned off gases such as hydrogen and helium in the inner solar system the outer parts stayed cool this provided just the right temperature and materials for planets to form atmospheres some astronomers have suggested that there are earth-like planets out there that may have once been gas giants for unknown reasons they have entered the roach limit and lost all their atmosphere becoming hot earths there are even hot jupiters out there like the exoplanet 51 peg which is similar in scale and orbits its star every four days for jupiter to start losing its atmosphere it would need to come closer to the sun and surpass its roche limit while this isn't likely to happen if jupiter got nudged toward the sun it would slowly start to spiral closer and closer to it it would lose more mass with each orbit eventually it would get so close that it would orbit the sun in a single day 88 times faster than mercury's orbit the sun's strong solar winds would give jupiter a tail of gas like a comet this enormous amount of gas could cloud the light of many stars making our night sky much less impressive during this slow process jupiter would be squished and eventually lose its atmosphere it would be left looking like a barren rocky planet like mercury but about the size of 11 earths as we continue to explore and discover more exoplanets like hot jupiters or hot neptunes scientists can better understand planet formation which is vital to our understanding of the universe maybe jupiter losing its atmosphere could be a good thing with all that gas it could be the perfect fuel to jump start the sun when it's running low but as always that's a story for another what if [Music] you

Channel: What If

Views: 746,488

Keywords: what if, what happens if, scifi, science documentary, what if scenario, mysteries, what if cosmos, cosmos, space, jupiter, solar system, science, planets, immense, presence, hydrogen, helium, unfathomable, centuries, sun, atmosphere, gas giant, core, Hot jupiters, gas giants, astronomy, hypothetical, gravity, asteroid, nasa, satellite, space photography, ltt 9779b, orbit, tidal forces, celestial body, roche limit, earth-like planets, exoplanets, solar wind, solar winds, comet, mercury, universe

Id: fuoRCh34z1Q

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 19 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/notaplumber]

This channel seems.. pretty bad.

[u/tricheboars]

How do they know the size of Jupiter's potential solid core would be 11x the size of the earth? I'd love a source on that