Jupiterʼs Moons

infinite sea.

One of Jupiter's moons, Ganymede.

cosmic witchcraft 101: jovian magick ♃

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. Due to its massive size, there are multiple ways the planet could have formed. Regardless of its formation process, some scientists believe that Jupiter migrated inward right up to the orbit of Mars after its initial formation. This is referred to as the Grand Tack Hypothesis. In the early solar system, Neptune and the other outer planets may have begun interacting with icy planetesimals, sending comets from one planet to the next, causing Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn to move outwards as the comets moved inwards. When the comets reached Jupiter, the planet’s massive gravity flung the comets into highly elliptical orbits or out of the solar system entirely and Jupiter migrated inwards to conserve angular momentum.

As it made its way towards the Sun, Jupiter’s gravity would have prevented the asteroid belt material from forming into planets and swept away large amounts of material that may have made Mars more massive. Thanks to Saturn, Jupiter stopped its inward migration and turned around, settling approximately where we see it today. As Jupiter moved inward and Saturn moved outward, it’s theorized that they became locked in a 3:2 orbital resonance, with Saturn finishing 3 orbits around the Sun for Jupiter’s 2. Jupiter’s migration may have also brought icy and gaseous material into the inner solar system, helping the inner planets form their atmospheres and perhaps even providing those vital life-giving compounds we can thank for our existence today.

Facts:

Jupiter produces more heat than it receives from the Sun.

Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined.

The planet has at least 67 moons.

Jupiter is NOT a failed star. The smallest stars in the observable universe have about 1/12 of the Sun’s mass, and Jupiter has about 1/1000th of the Sun’s mass. Jupiter is simply a colossal planet.

The Great Red Spot is larger than Earth. It’s a colossal hurricane that’s been going on since the 17th century, maybe even before that.

Jupiter rotates faster than any of the other planets; a Jovian day is only about 10 Earth hours. It takes 11.86 years to orbit around the Sun.

Lighter stripes along the planet are called zones and darker stripes are called belts. They flow in opposite directions and turbulence between regions causes the Jupiter’s storms.

Magickal Correspondences*

Colors: red, white, yellow, brown, purple

Intents: growth, expansion, prosperity, justice, exploration, freedom, protection, spiritual evolution, success, meditation, psychic development, confidence, storm magick

Herbs: frankincense, rosemary, oak, cedar, nutmeg, sage, anise, catnip, sandalwood, rosehips, dandelion, fennel, tansy

Crystals: tin, amethyst, lepidolite, sugilite, lapis lazuli, sapphire, diamond, agate, antimony, rhodocrosite, aragonite, jasper, onyx, amber

*some of these correspondences are based on traditional associations and some are based on my personal associations

Io transiting Jupiter, photographed by Voyager 1, 31 January 1979.  South is up, which is why the Great Red Spot’s in the upper hemisphere.

(As with yesterday’s gif, I’m not fully certain I’ve identified the moon correctly: it looks like Io to me, and the orbital speed seems about right, but for the life of me I can’t get HORIZONS to agree with the pictures: at the time of the first frame (C1541036), my spreadsheet tells me that none of the Galilean moons should even be in the frame.  The problem’s fixed if I pretend that the z-coordinate of every position is zero, but that’s cheating….)

For Jupiter and its limitless expansion.

Real stoked with how this one came out 💪🏻

Voyager 1 approaching Jupiter in 1979. [Reddit/spacegifs]

Planetary Witches / Jupiter Aesthetic

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Storms are present all over Jupiter’s surface, here’s some on it’s Northern pole captured by Juno. This photo was taken with the spacecraft only 18,906 kilometres away from Jupiter’s clouds.

Credit: https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2018/5/21/17353110/jupiter-photos-juno-high-res-clouds-great-red-spot

Took some snaps of Jupiter and it’s family….

Evocation

Ὦ Ζεῦ,

we named the second brightest wanderer for you

Κρονίδη

but did not know until Cassini, far-seeing

saw the storms upon your throne,

Μαιμάκτη

and the vast red hurricane