by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D
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Here is a new article of our mascot serie, "Just science-fiction".
Today, it is dedicated to Jupiter, the biggest planet of the Solar System, and its unusual Moons.
And as usually, you have to take it as pure fiction, of course.
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Jupiter has got sixteen Moons, among which the most famous are Europa, Ganymede, Io, and Callisto (discovered in 1610). The time of Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) has really been a period of determining discoveries, when you think about it. About him, the controversy with Papacy concerning the heliocentric system is famous, but the one about the nature of comets in "the Assayer" book ("the Sagittarius" book) is often ignored nowadays.
Other Moons of Jupiter have been discovered since : Amalthea (1892), Himalia and Elara(1904), Pasiphae (1908), Sinope (1914), Lysithea and Carme (1938), Ananke (1951), Leda (1974), Adrastea (1979), Metis and Thebe (1980). They are apparently mysterious rocks or Carbonaceous rocks, except Amalthea which seems to have sulphur layer over rock, but keeps some secrets from human eyes. About satellites with Carbonaceous rocks, it has to be stressed that they have got deposits of sedimentary rocks, wherein the primary ingredient is Carbon deriving from residual plant matter !
Like Jupiter - or our Earth -, Europa and Ganymede have got plenty water (under the form of ice from the outside, but liquid below). Then a civilization comparable to the one of Alpha Centauri, with intelligent amphibians humanlike is possible. Callisto has also got some ice, when Io's surface is made of sulfur compounds.
On Europa and Ganymede, an Earthling's weight of 100 kg would be respectively only 14 kg and 15kg (12 kg on Callisto, and just 9 kg on Amalthea).
We had the definitive evidence of an enormous amount of water on Jupiter, after the 21 thermonuclear explosions of the comet "Shoemaker-Levy 9" on July 1994. Before this date, Jupiter, which has got an atmosphere, was dogmatically considered as not having water.
It is believed that Jupiter is a gazeous planet with an atmosphere made of Hydrogen (90%) and Helium (nearly 10%), and some Water Vapor (H2O), without any really solid parts : of course, it looks incredible ! The problem of Jupiter and its satellites, has always been a question of recognition from human beings. But the opposite is quite true also for Earth and its Moon !
It musn't be forgotten either Jupiter is the biggest planet of our Solar System : it is not meaningless for this super-planet, glowing at night !
And its misunderstood "Great Red spot" (with its drum sound and intelligent echo system) is having a very special function, not only for Jupiter itself of course, but also in direction of other planets in our Solar System, Earth and its Moon included : we should rather say the Moon and its Earth in matter of Control !
In his book, untitled "Cosmos" (1980), Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996), who became the famous head of SETI program also described by anticipation two types of huge flying - and then water drinking - creatures on Jupiter. Paradoxically, he became very skeptical towards Ufology at the end of his life, on the way human beings were seeing it. He knew that as they are essentially binary beings, Earthlings can easily go extreme in their interpretations, whatever they are believers or at the opposite, debunkers.
It's far to be certain that NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) will announce soon an historical discovery on one of Jupiter's satellites.
When God created the Universe, he generated billions of galaxies and planets of course. But, as he was a bit strange, he decided that only one planet could be inhabited according to human science, Earth !
If life exists somewhere else, it can be only under the form of bacterias then, which means nothing compared to human beings and their enormous ego...or fear to be competed. But this interpretation is wrong obviously.
Above that, Earthlings' technological equipment is not accurate enough. That's why they take pictures with anomalies (97 to 98% of the total). Thus, you understand easily why only 2 to 3% only can be published, with the common use of filters (usually orange).
Yet, the NPIC (National Photographic Interpretation Center) of the NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) from Fort Belvoir (Springfield, Virginia), is sometimes ready for some boldness about Cosmos.
This boldness is important for America to stay number one, the Russian knowledge about Cosmos being often more captivating and amazing.
So say, the NASA would be allowed to announce something mesmerizing about Europa or Ganymede's intelligent life, the USA could try to maintain their leadership and justify easily at the same time their huge spendings for a successful spatial conquest !
Of course, the US space probe Juno could be of a great help, as it circumnavigated around Jupiter for already one year, till July 5th 2017. Now on, it has to observe precisely the Great Red Spot, which is considered as an anticyclon (12,000 km long and 15,000 km wide) with winds running at the spead of 700 km/h. As it was discovered by the French astronomer Jean-Dominique Cassini (1625 - 1712) in 1665, at the great time of Louis XIV then, this tempest is lasting quite long.
Anecdotally, on a different register, whatever the seemingly previsible results for the granted Olympic Games of 2024 and of 2028, the NGA mentioned above will be in charge of security either in Paris or in Los Angeles.
Jupiter is around 318 times as massive as our Earth, and its structure looks rather similar to our Sun, if we follow the most recent astronomical data.
This means that this super-planet has got a very decisive influence on Earth physically. In the depth of Jupiter, it is also believed that Hydrogen is transformed from Gas to Liquid, after separating into layers.
But nobody is explaining from where Water Vapor (H20) is coming then and at what levels Oxygen can be found precisely, as it may appear illogical for a supposedly non-solid planet ? The interaction of comet "Shoemaker-Levy 9" showed incidentaly in 1994, that there was water on Jupiter itself, and not only in the Great Red Spot !
They are still some uncertainties in human knowledge about Jupiter and its satellites. And this understanding is still very basic, if not contradictive.
The Jupiter system is quite complicated to understand for Earthlings.
Could some parts of Jupiter be solid after all for "the Hunters" or "the Floaters" to land or take off, if we were following the determining hypothesis of Carl Sagan, in connection with the existence of Water ?
If a Jupiterian (from Jupiter or one of its inhabited satellites) wanted to enter in direct contact with an Earthling (whatever the gender), he might have half-jokingly to ask for an appointment, as the other one could be too much self-centered on creating useless problems !
Above that, a lot of human beings have unhappily lost the sense of Wonder !
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