Giant Jupiter

Psalm 19:1
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

When you consider statistics to do with the planet Jupiter, our minds begin to boggle!

As I got up early this morning, Jupiter was certainly the brightest object in the sky other than the Moon – Venus, usually the second brightest object, was not visible. As with all the planets, Jupiter does not generate its own light. Its light is reflected from the Sun, which, were you on the surface of Jupiter, would be over 480 million miles away. Of course, you would not be stood on the surface of Jupiter, for a number of reasons. 1. It is comprised of gas, so does not have a solid surface for you to stand on. 2. Its surface gravity is 2½ times that on the surface of the Earth. This means that you would be so heavy, your muscles would probably not be strong enough for you to move them easily.

When seen through a powerful telescope, we can see bands of gas clouds. One very unusual cloud – the Great Red Spot – appears to be an anticyclone storm and has been consistently observed for nearly 190 years – indeed, some have suggested that observations 350 years ago may be of the same storm. And to think that I used to complain about storms in Florida!

We do not know why God made such magnificent objects as this beautiful planet. But perhaps part of the reason was revealed in 1994, when comet Shoemaker-Levy was observed crashing into its surface. Perhaps, since the fall, Jupiter has been a sort of cosmic vacuum cleaner, protecting the Earth from large impacts.

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