How come Jupiter is a gas planet but it have so many moons?

Question

If jupiter is a gas planet then why it have moons for, there nothing living on jupiter but maybe we can live on europa. It seems that Europa should be the planet and Jupiter be the moon. We don't need these other planets bc they don't have no life to it.

Answer 1

Jupiter has four large moons and dozens of smaller ones (there are about 60 known moons so far). Galileo first discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto in 1610, using a 20-power telescope; these moons are known as the Galilean moons.
Jupiter, the pressure is so great that the hydrogen atoms are broken up and the electrons are freed so that the resulting atoms consist of bare protons. This produces a state in which the hydrogen becomes metallic.

Answer 2

Sounds like the "cosmology" of two thousand years ago: We are on Earth and we are important creatures. Therefore, we are the centre of the universe.

Jupiter has lots of satellites because:

1) it is very massive (almost 318 times the mass of Earth).
2) it is in a region where there are lots of "loose" pieces (the asteroid belt is closer to Jupiter than to Earth).
3) it is far enough from the Sun so that it does not have to compete with it.

Europa is less than 1% the mass of Earth. Jupiter is almost 4,000 times more massive than Europa.

The fact that Jupiter is mostly gas does not prevent it from being massive. The Sun is just hot gas (which, in small quantitis, on Earth, floats on air), and yet the Sun is over 330,000 times more massive than Earth.

As for "need", the Moon has no life on it and if we did not have it, our rotation axis would not have been as steady as it was during our history (we would have had wild seasons and even more extreme temperatures than what we had) and many meteorites would not have been diverted from Earth. So, even though the Moon is lifeless, we still needed it.

The fact that we may decide to go live on another world one day will no suddenly transform that other world into a new centre of the universe.

Answer 3

Most (if not all) Jupiter's moons are captured asteroids or Kuiper belt objects (like Pluto).

Same with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. And Mars tiny moons are definitely captured asteroids from the asteroid belt.

It may be the case that Earth's moon is the only moon in our Solar System that was once part of its mother planet.

To say that Europa should be the planet and Jupiter the moon, tells us that you have no comprehension of the relative sizes of the two bodies. It's like saying a flea on a Rottweiller should be the dog, and the dog the flea.

Answer 4

Moon is a natural satellite....so it doesn't require any life to be on the planet it's revolving around. It's true that many scientists have researched on this and they also believe that Europa is a unique moon around the Jupiter that has all the components required for humans to live. The temperature on Europa can be as low as -200 degrees celcius...but it really depends where you are on the europa, as different places have different temperatures(not being exact). Scientists also believed that there used to be an ocean before with water in...however now it has been frozen...But there are still high possibilities for the ocean to exist beneath the ice layer. So basically reaseach is going on and as it's too freezy cold there....humans might not be able to live. FACT: Europa has got the most shiny surface due the presence of ice, which makes it unique in our solar system.

Answer 5

Although Jupiter's principal component is methane, the methane is not a gas under Jupiter's enormous gravitational force.

Recent theories suggest that after the giant planets were formed, their gravitational pull attracted the billions of tiny bits of debris in the outer solar system. Most of these simply peppered the planets, leaving visible scars on those made of rock, but a very few fell into orbit about one planet or another.

Take a look at the current issue of "Sky and Telescope" (Nov. 2007) for an excellent discussion.

Answer 6

Jupiter is a large ball of gas, yes. But the sheer size of it is so massive (one thousand Earths could fit inside it) that Jupiter has a very powerful gravitational field.

We don't know why gas giants were made, but as the Sun is also a big ball of gas (similar to Jupiter, but much much larger, and burning its hydrogen content), it is believed that Jupiter and gas giants are proto-suns that never got enough mass (gas) to grow large, causing its own mass to press on itself and causing its gases to burn to form it into a star.

Jupiter's gravity attracts any objects to either crash into it or become captive in its orbit. Many of Jupiter's smaller moons are asteroids, but the four primary ones were possibly captured or created with Jupiter.

As much as our SF stories would like us to think so, Europa as well as Jupiter's other moons lie within a very dangerous radiation field surrounding the planet. Like our Earth's Van Allen belt, this field traps the sun's energy particles, but also creates immense radiation fields that can fry electronics and irradiate humans fatally in the worst case. (The Jovian moon Io has many incredible volcanoes because of this and gravity fields.)

Doesn't mean that Europa isn't habitable, filled with water under its ice, or has life. Jupiter's sheer powerful presence just makes the impossible a little harder to turn into the possible.

Answer 7

Jupiter is not totally a gas planet. There is a rocky surface.on the planet far below the atmosphere. Therefore, Jupiter was able to attract many moons.

Answer 8

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. You could actually fit all of the other planets inside of it, and have room left to spare.
It's gravitational influence is enormous, either grabbing up or sucking in every smaller body that happens to cross its orbital path.
It has so many moons because it CAN, it doesn't matter if there is life there, or not.
Europa is a good candidate in our search for extraterrestrial life, but that recognition doesn't give it supreme reign over the planet who 'owns' it...

Answer 9

It's a wannabe, if ya know wha' I'm sayin'. Tried to get it's own solar system, see, but wasn't da big kid on da block.

Yous wouldn't wanna live on da sun, would ya?

And see, the moons, dey just little planets, see, kinda like da earth, but since Jupiter ain't no boss man, the planets be chillin', and ain't too big neither. So they just be chillin' out, all frosty like. Except for Io. Dat place gots bad indigestion cuz it's too close to the big man. Europa may even got some life on accounta its probably got an ocean, but we'd need to send somethin' there to find it, see.

Now, you got all dis? Don't make me come over dere.

Answer 10

a moon is a "satellite" that surrounds a planet. If you go to NASA's website, you'll find definitions for a dwarf planet, planet, moon...etc.

As for living on Europa, it's too far away from the sun which = too cold for us.