Planetary Database/Terran/Jupiter
The Planetary Database - Terran System - Jupiter
Overview
Jupiter is usually the fourth brightest object in the sky of Earth (after the Sun, the Moon and Venus); however at times Mars appears brighter than Jupiter.
Jupiter is 2.5 times more massive than all the other planets in the Terran Solar System combined, so massive that its barycenter with the Sun actually lies above the Sun's surface (1.068 solar radii from the Sun's center). It is 318 times more massive than Earth, with a diameter 11 times that of Earth, and a volume 1300 times that of Earth. Quite naturally, Jupiter's gravitational influence has dominated the evolution of the solar system: most planets' orbits lie closer to Jupiter's orbital plane than the Sun's equatorial plane, the majority of short-period comets belong to Jupiter's family (a result due to both Jupiter's mass and its relative speed), the Kirkwood gaps in the asteroid belt are mostly due to Jupiter, and Jupiter is even thought to have been possibly responsible for the late heavy bombardment of the inner solar system's history. Some have described the solar system as consisting of the Sun, Jupiter, and assorted debris.
Some describe Jupiter as the solar system's vacuum cleaner, due to its immense gravity well.
History
The first Earth probe to visit Jupiter was Pioneer 10 in 1973.
At the end of the 20th century CE, an unmanned NASA probe named Galileo was sent out to explore Jupiter and its moons.
The first permanent Human presence near Jupiter may have been established by the end of the 21st century.
By 2153, Jupiter Station in orbit of Jupiter served as a repair facility to Earth Starfleet.
The Jupiter Mining Corporation is in charge of mining the planet. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
