|
Jupiter radiates 1.6 times as much energy as falls on
it from the Sun. Thus, Jupiter has an internal heat source. It
is thought that much of this heat is residual heat left over from the
original collapse of the primordial nebula to form the Solar System, but
some may come from slow contraction (liquids are highly incompressible, so
Jupiter cannot be contracting very much.) This internal heat source
is presumably responsible for driving the complex weather pattern in its
atmosphere, unlike the Earth where the primary heat source driving the
weather is the Sun.
|