Nitesh: Bhaio and unki Baheno….it gives me immense pleasure to inform you all that our today’s guest for the celestial interview series is none other than Mr. Jupiter. Jupiter is one of the biggest Planets of our solar system. He has a large family of 69 moons and one of his moons is a very strong candidate that might harbour life.
Jupiter: Thank you so much for the generous introduction Mr. Nitesh. I am so glad to be here. By the way, I am not one of the biggest Planets rather the biggest one. Just to put my size into perspective, If I were a container I could accommodate 1400 Earths inside me.
Nitesh: Whoa….1400 Earths. You are very big indeed. You are the Khali of the planets if I had to put the size in perspective from my side.
Jupiter: Oh..you mean the wrestler, Khali. Yes, you can say that. In fact, my mass is twice than the total mass of all the planets of the solar system. I am proud of my size. Pangalene se pehle log do baar sochte hai.
Nitesh: I am sure nobody has guts to mess with you in the solar system. By the way, I hope that you loved our $1 Billion camera. Take as many selfies as possible. Try different poses but make sure that you stay in your orbit only.
Jupiter: Dude, What Camera you are talking about? I have no idea.
Nitesh: Aha….seriously you don’t know? Juno has been sending some stunning images of you and now we have some great pictures of your giant red spot too.
Jupiter: Oh…you are talking about Juno. I had no idea that it is a $1 Billion Camera. I thought it has a lot of other sensors and instruments and JunoCam is just an important part of
it.
Nitesh: Dude, I must say that you are a smart planet. I am sure you are enjoying this attention from Humans.Everybody is eagerly waiting for some more stunning images of yours. There are many things that we still do not know about you.
Jupiter: Everybody enjoys attention and I definitely love it. I have always been a star planet.
Nitesh: How can you be a star and planet at the same time?
Jupiter: I mean popular like a rock star. See this is how celestial interviews are. You gotta be careful with the words.
Nitesh: I completely agree.
Jupiter: By the way, why would NASA spend $1 Billion dollars just to know my secrets?
Nitesh: Well, you are a very important member of our solar system. I am sure you know that without you, we humans would have never survived.
Jupiter: I definitely know that. I always wanted to give interviews like celebrities do and therefore I made sure that life on Earth gets advanced enough to invent cameras and other stuff so that I can be interviewed.Yes, I know that my location is very strategic. It is my strong gravitational pull that protects the life on Earth from extinction. There are lots of massive asteroids that sometimes try to get into Earths orbit but I just throw them back and save you guys.
Nitesh: Well, 4.6 billion years, Jupiter, Fakra hai. We are so thankful to you sir. We know you are really important for our survival and don’t you think that it is a reason enough to build $1 Billion Juno for you. By the way, why didn’t you save the dinosaurs?
Jupiter: I kind of never liked them. And I was sleeping when that Asteroid bumped into Earth and ejected a large amount of dust in the atmosphere.The dust reflected the sunlight for a very long time and resulted in temperature fall. This was one of the factors that lead to the extinction of dinosaurs. The heat generated because of the asteroid collision was also one of the contributing factors. I feel sad for them but I am also jealous, as they later got very famous because of Steven Spielberg. Spielberg once promised to make a movie on me too, but things did not go well. I have no complaints as discovery and national geographic keep making documentaries on me.
Nitesh: Nothing to worry Jupiter. You are no lesser a celebrity than dinosaurs. Dinosaurs might be gigantic but you my friend are so so big. In fact, your red spot is bigger than Earth so just ignore Dinos and chill.
Jupiter: Thanks for boosting my Ego Nitesh. Yes, that giant Red spot which has persisted for more than 2 centuries is bigger than Earth. But do you know what exactly that is?
Nitesh: It looks that it is some kind of storm. I mean you are composed of gases like Hydrogen, Helium, Ammonia and others. It must be a turbulent storm.
Jupiter: No…the way Mums in India use Kala tika for their kids to protect them from Buri Nazar, similarly, my mum used Red tika to protect me from Buri nazar of anybody who is observing me from different locations in the Universe.
Nitesh: What do you mean by different locations? You mean you know that Aliens exist and they have been observing you.
Jupiter: That is a top-secret Nitesh. I am not supposed to reveal that. Wo log mjhe maar denge agar maine apna moo khola to.
Nitesh: Kya yaar, Jupiter hoke Aliens se darte ho. Do teen asteroid kheech ke maarna unko, bhaag jayenge sabke sab.
Jupiter: Uski jarurat nahi padegi. Unko me bolta hu ki agar unhone mjhe kuch bhi karna chaha to me unko CID ke episodes dikha dunga. Itna pakau show hai ki koi bhi darta hai.
Nitesh: Yaar ab CID ki baat band karo verna me bhaag jaunga.
Jupiter: are nahi…let's continue with our interview. What else you want to know Nitesh? I would be more than happy to answer.
Nitesh: The idea behind creating Juno was to get more details about you. We still do not know how you were exactly formed. We are also very curious about your super strong magnetic field, your storms, your ring, your atmosphere and last but the not the least , your moons.
Jupiter: Sabra rakho….sabra ka phal Jupiter hota hai. Yes, I mean it is still a mystery for you guys that how I and Saturn grew so big. There are a couple of models like Accretion model and Disk instability model that do give some idea of how giant planets like me and saturn were formed and it is
not only about me. It is also related to the origin of the entire solar system including Bahena.
Nitesh: Bahena? Who is Bahena?
Jupiter: I mean Earth. She is my sister and that is the very reason why I protect her from those deadly asteroids.
Nitesh: I am sure that you will be coming to this Rakshabandhan.
Jupiter: Oh yes I am coming for sure.
Nitesh: Gift ka kya socha hai.
Jupiter: Yaar…Gift ke maamle me I am always confused.Can you suggest me something Please..Please…Please
Nitesh: Well….you can think of something that might be useful to her or something that she is losing. Hmmm….Can you bring some mega tonnes of ozone with you? She has rapidly lost her Ozone layer and it is going to be worse in future. We are also running out of humanity, empathy and Vision. It would be great if you could bring that too.
Jupiter: That is quite an interesting list. I am not sure about humanity and Empathy but I will try to bring some Ozone for sure.
Nitesh: Jupiter, can you please tell us something about your Magnetic field. How do you get such magnetic field, which has its tail extending past the orbit of Saturn? I mean it has to be very strong for it to reach there.
Jupiter: I agree. I have the strongest magnetic field among the planets of our solar system. The magnetic fields of both Earth and Jupiter originate from processes deep in each planet’s interior. Earth’s is generated from the electric current caused by the flow of molten metallic material (Iron and Nickel) within its outer core. In my case the gases are crushed to such incredible pressures that they are forced beyond the common states of liquid, solid, or gas that we find on Earth. One such layer inside me is metallic hydrogen, and the electric current caused by swirling movements in this substance produces a magnetic field so large that its tail end (“magnetotail”) extends past the orbit of Saturn. Juno will map my magnetic field. The spacecraft’s unique polar orbit will carry it above the poles to study Jupiter’s auroras and how the magnetic field slams invisible charged particles into the atmosphere to produce the beautiful lights. Juno will measure the charged particles and the electric currents they create along the magnetic field lines. Juno will also “listen” for the radio signals given off by these particles as they move through the magnetic field. Its special “eyes” — an ultraviolet spectrometer — will “see” the aurora in a wavelength of light invisible to our human eyes. JunoCam will take pictures of the planet, which scientists and students will use to study the poles.
Nitesh: Well….I guess Solid Hydrogen is the holy grail of Physics. We have not created it so far here on Earth as it requires a tremendous amount of pressure to solidify Hydrogen. My point is how do we know it is metallic without even creating it. I mean I should have been aware of it but I would like to know from you.
Jupiter: Computer simulations Nitesh. A simulated condition that exists in my core and surface has shown that liquid hydrogen gains metal like properties. It is the only model that can explain my strong magnetic field as of yet. Simulations are how you humans know a lot even when you have not really visited a place. The only thing is you must consider is the right parameters.
Nitesh: Oh…I see.
Jupiter: Do You know how massive I am. I am so massive that I am called a fake star.
Nitesh: Fake Star! Why?
Jupiter: Like any other star I am mainly composed of Hydrogen and Helium but I never had enough mass to start thermonuclear fusion to turn into a real star. You know my composition is a direct proof that I was formed from the majority of the solar nebula as it also had Hydrogen and helium as its composition. I ate up almost 90% of the material that was left for the formation of planets.
Nitesh: You are a supreme Bhukkad. Anyways. There is something very peculiar about you that I have heard of.
Jupiter: What is that?
Nitesh: You radiate more heat than the total heat you receive from the Sun.
Jupiter: Yes, that is quite true. I radiate twice as much infra-red energy as I receive from the Sun! My core temperature may be about 43,000 degrees F (24,000 degrees C) hotter than the surface of the Sun. This heat leaks up through the liquid metallic hydrogen and liquid hydrogen layers to supply energy to the atmosphere. Like a pot of soup on a hot stove, atmospheric gases boil up from the warm bottom layers to the cooler upper layers; temperatures are –261 degrees F (–163 degrees C) at the top of the atmosphere. Juno will map the atmosphere’s temperature at different depths.
Nitesh: Bichara Juno….kya kya karega.
Jupiter: Mere bhai $1 Billion dollar lagaaye hai. Paise wasool nahi karne kya? Jitni information mile utni kam hai.
Nitesh: That is true. By the way Jupiter I think the very heat coming from your core is responsible for the gigantic storms that we see on your surface.
Jupiter: Yes Nitesh. The Science of meteorology is same everywhere. It is the difference in temperature of air that creates such types of storm. In short, I would say that Convection drives violent weather on my surface. Heat leaks outward from my interior, causing atmospheric gases to boil up from the warm bottom layers to the cooler upper layers. What you guys still do not know is how these storms persist for centuries? I am sure Juno will be able to reveal a couple of these secrets too.
Nitesh: We also do not know what gives red and orange colour to your giant spots. We do have some hypothesis to explain that though. Is there anything else you would like to tell us before we proceed to our rapid fire round?
Jupiter: Wow…rapid fire. I guess you did not have this section during the interviews of Sun and Earth.
Nitesh: You are so special, bro. I am introducing this for the first time.
Jupiter: Chal joothe. Sabko yahi bolta hai. Anyways, I do have a couple of important things to share. I complete one rotation every 10 hours compared to 24hrs of Earth. I take 12 years to revolve around the Sun compared to 365 days of Earth. Somebody weighing 34Kg on Earth will weigh 79 kg on my surface.
Nitesh: Those were kind of very cool facts Jupiter. I mean ladies who are trying to lose weight must never visit your surface otherwise, they will be seriously disappointed.
Jupiter: I wish beautiful ladies could visit me. The body of Humans is so much evolved w.r.t to Gravity that they just won't survive here. In case they visit Europa I will meet them for sure.
Nitesh: Enough of Khayali Pulao. Let us start our rapid fire round. So, are you ready?
Jupiter: Oh ….yes. I am excited rather.
Nitesh: The first question is here. Who is your favourite Scientist?
Jupiter: Galileo of course. He was the first human to observe me. I owe him a lot.
Nitesh: Who is your favourite Planet from our Solar system?
Jupiter: Bahena. I mean Earth. Without her, I would never have had people running behind me for my interview. I mean mjhe itni izzat Earth le logo se hi mil sakti thi.
Nitesh: Your favourite moon.
Jupiter: Parents baccho me fark nahi karte. Fir bhi I would go with Europa as he is the most famous kid of mine. He might have microscopic life lekin kamina kuch bolta nahi. He is a very secretive type. He is waiting for you guys to send a robot and dig deep in its ocean to find life or the second genesis of life outside Earth.
Nitesh: Hmmmm…. Interesting. Your favourite NASA mission.
Jupiter: Earlier it was Galileo but now it is mera pyaara Juno.
Nitesh: Accha beta…Kam khatam….mission khatam wala attitude.
Jupiter: It is not like that. I learned this from Ranbir Kapoor.
Nitesh: What does Ranbir Kapoor have to do with this?
Jupiter: Well…the favourite actress of Ranbir Kapoor during Rockstar was Nargis Fakhri, Katrina Kaif during Rajneeti, Anushka Sharma during Bombay velvet. Your favourite mission is always your latest mission. Thanks, Ranbir. Best of luck.
Nitesh: ohh….I see. That’s great. It seems that the entire Solar system is so fond of Bollywood. Bollywood ki bat nikli hai to tell me your favourite Bollywood as well as Hollywood movie.
Jupiter: Swades in Bollywood and Interstellar in Hollywood.
Nitesh: cool. Next question. What is one thing that general public does not know about you?
Jupiter: Like Saturn I am also engaged.
Nitesh: I am sorry. I did not get you.
Jupiter: Like Saturn, I also have an engagement ring made up of ice and dust. It is so faint that it is not visible through naked eyes. My ring does not reflect enough visible light to be seen clearly.
Nitesh: Very interesting. Which is your favourite element?
Jupiter: Hydrogen of course. As Carl sagan said: We are the representatives of the cosmos; we are an example of what hydrogen atoms can do, given 15 billion years of cosmic
evolution.
Nitesh: The well the saids. Last question is What is your favourite quote?
Jupiter: I love this quote from Richard Feynman: I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.
Nitesh: Superb. Questioning everything is the core principle of Science. A very critical component. I must tell Jupiter that this was a great interview. I had great fun and seriously I learned a lot. Thank you so much coming.
Jupiter: Pleasure and Activa is all mine Nitesh.
Nitesh: Sudhroge nahi…bye and take care. And keep sending your photos through Juno as your fans are very excited for the same.
Jupiter: For sure Nitesh. You take care too.
