Year: 2015-2016
School: Istek Ac badem Anatolia high School
Teacher: Burcu ÖZKIRIMLI
Grade: 10
City: Istanbul
Target: Jupiter
"Can the moon of Jupiter be another living place for humanity? Does Jupiter provide safety for us? I am willing to do my research on this amazing planet: Jupiter. It is the biggest but most lonely planet in the solar system. I don't want the Jupiter to leave alone because there may be a new home for us. There are too many undiscovered information's about this lovely planet. As scientists we want to discover anything which illuminate us.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the biggest in the solar planet. This giant planet is composed of Hydrogen (90%) and Helium (10%) gases. These materials get denser with depth. At great depth within Jupiter, the pressure becomes very high that the hydrogen atoms break up and electrons become free. Hence, the resulting atoms consists of protons and hydrogen becomes metallic.
Jupiter is the third brightest planet following moon and Venus. The energy which is reflected from Jupiter to its surrounding is 2.5 times bigger than the energy which is expose from the Sun. This reflected energy can affect other planets, maybe our planet.
This huge planet has a great magnetic field and has 62 known moons. The recent discover of moons was in 2003. However, the most significant information was received after the Galileo spacecraft reached Jupiter in 1995. Because of the information which has been taken from this spacecraft, scientists has found the biggest 4 moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) and they called them as Galilean moons. The direction which these four moons rotate is as the same of the planet. However, the other moons rotate in an opposite direction of the planet. The most interesting moon is Europa. As the observation which has been done on Earth, Europa has a water-ice crust. Hence, it is thought that Water Ocean exist beneath it and it could be a conceivable idea of an extraterrestrial life. Can this moon be a new earth? More over Jupiter is the best choice for collecting data about exoplanets because its features is very close to exoplanets.
This amazing planet prevents the comets to impact the earth. Hence, it is also a shield for us. The other two target seems too unlogical for me. For example target one; firstly we have to observe each detail about Saturn and then discover its other details like movements of the moons and etc. For target three we observe the Occultation between Rhea and Tethys. It will be a good view but nothing useful for us from that capture. Also it's unfair to Jupiter because in the past Cassini pointed to Earth, to moon, to Saturn even to Pluto.
Jupiter is a unique member of solar system. This planet has a protective effect on our home. We can learn more about the possibility of life on its moon Europa. If we point Cassini's camera to Jupiter, it will not be lonely anymore."
