Question about Jupiter?

Question

Ok so Jupiter is a gas giant right? Does this mean that it does not have a solid surface? I.E. If we sent a rocket to Jupiter does this mean it would be impossible to land on the surface and walk on the surface of jupiter? If so what would happen if one tried? would they just fall through layers of gas and end up in the core of the planet?

Answer 1

Aosm is right. Under all the layers of gas clouds, are layers of liquids and by the time you got down to a solid surface, you would be under such pressure, your ship would go 'fttz'.   It would be crushed.

Imagine taking a deep sea submersable to the bottom of our ocean, then  trying to get out to walk around the sea floor. Similar thing. You would be crushed.  

Answer 2

unlike solid planets,  gas planets have solid cores in the thick layers of gas, probably metallic, so if you launch a rocket to Jupiter(which is presently impossible), will hit and explode in the core, because of its strong gravitational pull. Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are also gas planets with solid cores.

Answer 3

i always thought gas giants had a solid core while terrestrial planets had liquid cores

Answer 4

Jupiter is a massive gas giant.  Most of it's volume is atmosphere.  But not in the sense you think about it on earth.  The mass on Jupiter is so great, that most objects approaching Jupiter will either be crushed in approach (reference Shoemaker-Levy 9) or will crash into the atmosphere and never get anywhere near it's "surface."  (also observed form the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet crash of the late 1990's)

Jupiter is believed to have a rocky core (iron?) which is surrounded by liquid hydrogen.  The rest is atmosphere.  No, you cannot fly through it, the atmosphere is too densely packed.  No you cannot land on it, you would be incinerated or ripped apart (depending on the mass and speed of the object you are traveling in).

Answer 5

It simply means that Jupiters atmosphere is so thick..that we do not know if it has a solid surface.  From what I understand I believe it does have a dense rocky core.  Seems like if all it was was atmosphere the sun would have stripped it away long ago.  But the fact it does have enough gravity to hold its atmosphere suggests a rocky core to me.  But it is also thought that the core might be a liquid metallic hydrogen state but that is pure speculation also.

Answer 6

eventually the gas would get so dense that a spacecraft would be buoyant. it would also likely be crushed by atmospheric pressure.