All language subtitles for the.planets.us.s01e01.480p.hdtv.x264.rmteam

Jupiter...
Our largest planetary neighbor.

Jupiter is the king of
the planets for a good reason.

It's the biggest.

It dominated the evolution
of the solar system.

Jupiter is a violent
world of radiation and storms

on an epic scale.

The interior of Jupiter
is kind of hard to imagine.

There may be a
layer inside Jupiter

where you get diamond rain.

Today, NASA's Juno mission

is unraveling
Jupiter's deepest secrets.

What forces shape
its mysterious storms

and cause volcanic eruptions

that jet lava deep into space?

Jupiter actually has
more in common with our sun

than it does with any of
the other planets

in the solar system.

We venture deep inside
the most extreme planet

in the solar system

to reveal its inner secrets
and investigate

if Jupiter could actually
be the sun's secret twin.

Have you ever dreamed about
traveling out of this world?

My name is Mike Massimino,

and I turned that fantasy
into a reality

when I space-walked to repair
the Hubble space telescope.

Great job, Mike.

Now as we expand our knowledge
of our solar system

from Mercury
to the cosmic unknowns,

I want to take you
on a personal journey to...

Captions by vitac...
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

welcome to "the planets."

I'm Mike Massimino.

Of all the planets
in our solar system,

Jupiter is hands-down
the biggest and the baddest.

It's a beast of a world full
of radiation and violent storms.

It's got so much power,

it's basically its own
mini-solar system.

And thanks to the new amazing
high-resolution images

from NASA's Juno mission,

more of Jupiter's secrets
are being revealed.

Jupiter...
The fifth planet from the sun

and the largest
in the solar system.

Made almost entirely
of hydrogen and helium,

Jupiter stretches more than
85,000 miles across.

It's unfathomably big.

You know, you can fit
1,000 earths inside.

Now scientists
have launched a mission

to study Jupiter

in more detail than ever before.

The Juno spacecraft
that launched in 2011

reached Jupiter's orbit in 2016,

where it is capturing close-up
images and collecting data.

And these newest findings
from Juno show a unique

and extraordinarily
complex world.

Jupiter has 67 known moons

and probably a giant
number of ones

that are not yet known.

It's like a miniature
solar system all of its own.

It's a whole environment,
a whole ecosystem.

The conditions on
and around Jupiter are extreme.

It doesn't behave like
an ordinary planet.

Formed at the beginning
of the solar system

from the same stuff as the sun,

Jupiter is an enigma.

Is it hiding a secret history?

Could Jupiter be
a star in disguise?

Spread across 50 square miles

of baking sand
in the scorching Mojave desert,

these giant telescopes

listen for radio signals
in outer space.

NASA's Steve Levin
is on the front line,

unlocking the secrets
of Jupiter.

We've known about Jupiter
for thousands of years,

and we've studied it
with telescopes

for hundreds of years.

In fact, Jupiter was one
of the very first objects

in the sky that was studied
with telescopes.

But when we started
using radio telescopes,

we learned a lot
of surprises about Jupiter.

These telescopes observe space
by looking at radio waves

rather than visible light.

And the radio waves
that come from Jupiter

aren't what scientists expect
to see from a planet.

One of the surprises was this
enormous bright radio source

that turned out to be Jupiter.

Jupiter gives off
a huge radio signal

far too bright for its size.

Scientists think these signals

are created by
small, charged particles

interacting with
a magnetic field.

Most planets have
a magnetic field,

but Jupiter's is far larger
than any other.

In fact, the Juno
spacecraft proved

that Jupiter's magnetic field

is 10 times stronger
than that of the earth.

So what is causing
Jupiter's huge magnetic field?

Scientists believe
the answer might lie

within alien chemistry
deep within the planet.

More than 300 million miles
from earth,

Jupiter is an unimaginably
different world.

It's a planet that astronomers
call a "gas giant."

It's made almost
entirely from hydrogen,

the same material
that forms stars like the sun.

But beneath its cloudy surface,
a darkness looms.

Scientists believe a thick,
black liquid swirls below,

where intense pressures
and temperatures

transform hydrogen into
a strange new substance.

The secret of Jupiter's
giant magnetic field

may lie within this abyss.

Scientists in Edinburgh
are conducting

a remarkable experiment
to find out.

So, we call Jupiter a gas giant,

but beneath the clouds
of Jupiter,

the planet's not really
made of gas.

It's made of something
much, much stranger.

Scientists know that Jupiter
is 90% hydrogen.

Let's go.
Things work fast

when they work here.

This equipment
can recreate some of the

incredibly high pressures
found inside Jupiter,

to find out
what happens to a gas

under the extreme conditions
deep inside the planet.

In the bottom of the ocean,
the pressure from all the water

that's on top of you

is about 1,000 times
earth's atmospheric pressure.

And in the center of the earth,

it's about a million times.

But in the center of Jupiter,

it's almost a billion times

the pressure of earth's
atmosphere.

Stewart is going to expose a gas

more commonly found on earth

to the pressures found
deep within Jupiter.

He uses oxygen because
it's easier to control

in the lab,
yet reacts to pressure

in the same way as hydrogen.

Oxygen is
very similar to hydrogen,

and so, they have
similar properties

when you put them under pressure
inside a planet.

At low pressures, light can
easily pass through the sample.

If I put my hand
behind the sample,

the light goes away.

So, we're seeing light, now,
coming through oxygen,

and we're able to see
right through it.

And of course, oxygen,
like hydrogen,

when you squeeze on it,
it starts to change.

Stewart begins
to squeeze the gas.

Under extreme pressures,

the structure
of oxygen transforms.

- 62, 63.
- There it goes.

The oxygen has now
just turned solid,

and crystals are starting
to form in the system.

The oxygen becomes opaque.

It's beginning to change
its structure.

We're starting to
see, the oxygen's beginning

to turn a little bit darker
and a little more orange,

and there it goes.

We've turned, now,
our oxygen sample

into a totally black
substance here.

We were trying to shine
light through it,

and it's being totally
absorbed inside the oxygen.

Stewart believes his experiments
prove that the pressure

within Jupiter
transforms hydrogen gas

into a new, different state.

But this isn't enough to explain

Jupiter's enormous
magnetic field.

An even stranger force
must be at work.

Deeper inside the planet,

the conditions intensify.

Beneath the dark hydrogen,

scientists think there's
an even more bizarre layer...

An ocean of liquid,
metallic hydrogen,

an exotic state of hydrogen
that doesn't exist on earth.

12,000 miles deep, this metallic
ocean transforms the planet

into an enormous dynamo.

As it spins, it creates
a magnetic field

that extends nearly
4 million miles around Jupiter,

the biggest planetary structure
in the solar system.

Scientists now believe
metallic hydrogen

powers Jupiter's magnetic field.

But in the lab,
it's proving difficult to make.

The only possible explanation
for that magnetic field

is the existence
of a metallic state of hydrogen

deep within Jupiter.
And so, it's really...

Experiments are trying
to catch up to nature.

The pressure inside Jupiter
is unrivaled

by the other planets
in our solar system.

Only the sun creates
a greater force.

Jupiter is so big,
so massive that,

we know, as you descend
into the interior of Jupiter,

you will reach pressures

where an element like hydrogen

doesn't just liquify.

It actually begins to behave
like a metal.

Now, the reason
a metal is shiny is that,

metal atoms
actually share electrons.

And with the hydrogen
compressed so close together,

the same thing happens,

and you get metallic hydrogen.

This metallic hydrogen
is something

that is very difficult to make.

But because Jupiter
is so powerful, it's so cool,

and it has such awesome gravity,

it can create metallic hydrogen.

Jupiter's magnetic field
reaches out deep into space.

When tiny charged particles
come into contact with it,

they produce radio waves

that telescopes
can detect on earth.

Scientists observing Jupiter
in ultraviolet light

can see
an extraordinary phenomena

caused by the magnetic field...

Huge auroras,

the brightest and biggest
in the solar system.

The auroras here on earth,

our northern
and Southern lights,

are caused by the interaction
of our magnetic field

with particles from the sun.

Well, Jupiter's magnetic field
is so extreme,

it actually generates auroras
all by itself.

But the unparalleled
brightness of Jupiter's auroras

can't be explained
by its magnetic field alone.

What awesome power
is fueling Jupiter's auroras?

When I first travelled to
the Hubble space telescope

as an astronaut,

I was mesmerized by how bright
the colors in space were.

The sun's light was the
whitest white I had ever seen.

I can only imagine how bright
the massive auroras around

Jupiter look from space.

But what's causing this majestic
light show around Jupiter?

NASA's Juno spacecraft
is on the mission to find out.

Jupiter behaves more like a star

than an ordinary planet,
like earth.

It's made from the same stuff
as the sun,

and supercharged auroras suggest

that extremely powerful
radiation surrounds Jupiter.

This makes getting near
to the planet very difficult.

Trying to get
anywhere close to Jupiter

is really, really hard

because of the intense radiation
of the magnetic field.

So, when you send a spacecraft,

you understand it's not gonna
live for very long.

We've not been to Jupiter
that many times,

which is one reason NASA's
Juno mission is so exciting.

The Juno spacecraft
has been sent

right into the heart
of Jupiter's auroras

to discover the secrets
behind the radiation

that causes them.

Launched in 2011,

Juno traveled at more than
124,000 miles per hour,

to reach Jupiter in 2016.

It's currently
orbiting the planet,

and will circle it 37 times
during its mission.

While in orbit, Juno is sending
back images of Jupiter

like we've never seen before.

This first-ever infrared image
of Jupiter's Southern lights

shows off its
incredible auroras.

This is NASA's jet propulsion
laboratory in California.

It's the nerve center
for the Juno mission.

The data's looking amazing.

All the scientists
are incredibly excited.

Heidi Becker is studying
the radiation environment

around Jupiter using Juno.

When Juno went through
the really nasty

radiation environment
for the first time,

it's kind of an
edge-of-your-seat-type moment.

Heidi measures the strength
of radiation around Jupiter

by looking at
photographs of stars

taken by the Juno spacecraft.

This is a regular,

radiation-free image

collected by Juno's
star tracker.

The stars appear
like points of light,

like you're used to when you
look up at the stars at night.

The stars are constant points
of light in the photograph,

but when radiation particles
hit the camera,

they appear, suddenly,
as additional white spots

and streaks of light.

So, each of these frames
is another level of radiation.

And all of these
squiggles and holes

that are being added
to this star field,

that's the radiation signature.

These are
the radiation particles

that create Jupiter's auroras.

The particles are kind of like
machine-gun fire,

creating bullet holes
in an image.

And so, we can count
those individual bullet holes,

and that's what
helps me understand

the radiation environment.

So, one person's noise is
another person's music or data.

This data from Juno
allows scientists

to map the planet's radiation.

The radiation fields
of Jupiter are so intense,

we know they're going to
eventually fry our spacecraft.

Juno has on the order
of about a 2-year lifetime.

We understand that.

This intense radiation
lights up Jupiter's auroras,

but where does it come from?

What's feeding Jupiter's
magnetic field with radiation?

Scientists looking for evidence
have spotted clues

in a mysterious bright spot

tracing a path
across the lights.

They now think that lo,

one of the 67 moons
that orbit Jupiter,

holds the key
to the planet's auroras.

There's this very intense
magnetic interaction

between Jupiter and its moons,

and you can actually see this
in the Aurora.

And you see a glowing spot
moving around in the auroras.

And one of the most
dramatic ones,

the most dramatic footprints
to see, is that of lo.

Io orbits
at 217,000 miles from Jupiter,

held in place by the planet's
massive gravity.

It's nothing like the moon
that orbits earth.

When we sent
our first spacecraft,

we saw, amazingly,

volcanoes going off.

Could these remote volcanoes

be the source of Jupiter's
supercharged auroras?

On my second mission
on space shuttle Atlantis,

we brought a replica
of Galileo's telescope

just like the one
that he used to discover

Jupiter's four largest moons,
including lo.

In Galileo's wildest dreams,

he probably never would've
theorized that volcanoes

on lo would be playing a role in

Jupiter's stunning auroras.

But that's just what
some scientists

are on the hunt to prove.

Scientists at
Syracuse university in New York

are investigating
if volcanoes on lo

are the cause of
Jupiter's magnificent auroras

by making their own volcano.

I've poured lava
over 1,000 times,

and probably have seen more lava

than a lot of volcanologists.

Professor Bob Wysocki
runs the lava project.

He uses his homemade
furnace to replicate

the geological conditions
on other worlds.

Tonight, he's gearing up
to investigate

how volcanic activity on one
of Jupiter's moons

might fuel the planet's
deadly radiation

and light up its auroras.

Bob heats basalt rock
until it melts.

The furnace burns
at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

It takes an immense amount
of energy

to melt even a small amount
of rock.

So, where does lo get the energy

to fuel its volcanoes?

All signs point to lo's immense
immense and malevolent neighbor,

Jupiter.

The planet traps lo
in a gravitational tug-of-war

with other orbiting moons.

Inside lo, the relentless push
and pull from Jupiter

heats up the interior
to melting point,

creating smoldering currents
beneath the surface.

As the pressure builds,

the lava finally erupts
through the moon's crust.

It shoots scorching
fountains of lava

up to half-a-mile high

and floods the frozen surface
with molten rock.

- Okay, Jeff, you ready to go?
- Yeah.

In Syracuse, Bob is ready
to pour the lava.

We are just that one step below

what comes out of a volcano

and making and replicating
what happens in nature.

Well, we're doing
an experiment today

to try to better understand

what happens
when ice meets lava.

Geologist Jeff Karson
is joining Bob

to see what happens
when volcanoes erupt on lo.

Io is extremely cold.

Its surface is made from sulfur
dioxide that is frozen solid.

Bob monitors the furnace,
while Jeff examines

how lava interacts with the ice.

The physics that govern
the way the lava flows form,

the way they cool,
the shapes they take on,

these are all the same
on other planetary objects,

but the same basic
physics applies.

Scientists believe
that the hot lava

pouring out of lo's volcanoes

onto its icy surface

has a direct effect
on Jupiter's radiation.

Moving onto the ice,

a bunch of bubbles
are starting to form.

You see a completely
different style

of behavior of the lava here.

I'm gonna step back, actually,

'cause I can feel the heat
so intensely here.

But those bubbles are forming

because water vapor
is being produced,

boiling the water in the ice.

The vapor is escaping
through the lava

and blowing these
beautiful bubbles.

It's a really good analog

for what could be happening
on other planetary objects,

like on lo.

The hot lava
causes the frozen ice

to instantly vaporize
into clouds of steam.

On a place like lo,

it would be sulfur
that's being vaporized,

and sulfur dioxide
making bubbles

and being released
into the atmosphere.

Scientists now think
that vaporized sulfur dioxide

is the key ingredient

to explain Jupiter's
extraordinary auroras.

Io's volcanoes vaporize
the toxic sulfur dioxide.

They blast it into
a nearly 50-mile umbrella plume.

One ton every second flies
into orbit around Jupiter.

The sulfur dioxide supercharges

the deadly radiation belt
around the planet

with a lethal particle storm.

Jupiter's magnetic field
then captures

the sulfur dioxide particles

and accelerates them
to the poles of the planet

at almost the speed of light.

They strike Jupiter's atmosphere

and create the spectacular
Aurora patterns,

over 100 times more energetic

than the northern lights
on earth.

And now, thanks to Juno imagery,

scientists have confirmed
that lo's volcanoes

are indeed contributing
to this massive light show.

These eruptions
on Jupiter's moon

help generate a lethal radiation
engulfing the whole planet.

But it's not just radiation
that makes Jupiter so extreme.

Deadly storms rage
on the surface.

Today, Juno is sending
back photos

of unimaginable weather systems,

enormously more powerful
than even the most

terrifying hurricanes on earth.

The weather on
Jupiter is pretty darn extreme.

There are these belts
that have winds

that are zooming around
very quickly,

and then in one direction in one

and then the other direction
in the other.

Among all the swirling bands,

there's an enigma,

one feature that
doesn't seem to change...

Jupiter's famous great red spot.

When I space-walked
for the first time in 2002

to help repair
the Hubble space telescope,

I just couldn't believe
how incredible the earth

looked from outer space.

One of the coolest sights
were the lightning storms.

But the storms on earth
are nothing compared to

the ferocious ones on Jupiter.

And as scientists find out more
about these storms,

they're unlocking the secrets

to the planet's
mysterious red spot.

Jupiter... more than 1,000 times
larger than the earth.

It's the biggest
and baddest planet

in the solar system.

It's so deadly, it seems
to have more in common

with the sun
than a planet like earth.

Jupiter has single storms

that are larger
than its neighboring planets.

They rage for centuries
and create

its unmistakable appearance.

If you were to go to Jupiter,
you'd be in for

some very serious weather.

But, hey, maybe the kitesurfing
would be good,

or the parachuting,
because you have to deal with

some serious winds
and some serious storms.

In 2017, the Juno mission sent
back photos of Jupiter's poles,

which were covered
in dense, massive storms.

The Southern pole
boasts cyclones

that are 600 miles in diameter,

the size of Texas.

And close to Jupiter's
northern pole,

this anti-cyclonic storm
is 3,700 miles long,

bigger than the entire U.S.

But even this storm
doesn't compare

to Jupiter's great red spot.

The great red spot

is this gigantic swirling storm

that has lasted
for hundreds of years.

You know, storms on earth
don't last that long.

Jupiter's great red
spot is one of the biggest

and oldest storms
in the solar system.

The Juno cam captured the
closest-ever photos of the spot

on July 10, 2017,

recording storm clouds moving
at over 350 miles per hour.

But the mystery remains.
What keeps it spinning?

Scientists at UCLA's spinlab
in California

are trying to understand
Jupiter's extreme weather.

It would be impossible for us
to get to Jupiter and survive,

so we have the next best thing.
Here at spinlab,

we do simulations
of Jupiter in the lab.

Juan Lora has a surprising tool

to understand Jupiter's
atmosphere...

A tank of water.

With this setup here,

we are simulating a planetary
atmosphere in the lab.

I know it doesn't look much
like a planet,

but imagine just looking down
at the center of the table,

and that represents the polar
region of the planet.

The table will spin.

So, as you head out
to the edges of the table,

that represents lower latitudes
on the planet.

Jupiter is the fastest
spinning planet

in the solar system.

A day on Jupiter
lasts only 10 hours.

The fluid in the table
is now spinning

like a planetary atmosphere
would be.

So, now, we're gonna
add some dye,

and let's see what happens.

The colored fluids represent
different cloud systems.

This experiment
should reveal clues

about how they interact.

Adding any sort of
turbulence to a rotating fluid

will create some
interesting dynamics.

Juan stirs the water
to create turbulence.

Turbulence occurs
in Jupiter's atmosphere

when gasses of different
temperatures and speeds

come together.

Once you get turbulence,
and you disturb a fluid

that is rotating quickly,

like this tank and like Jupiter,
then you get these vortices.

And the vortices
are very stable,

and they like to interact
with each other sometimes.

This is like the red spot.

As soon as it was formed,

it is able to be maintained

by the rotation of Jupiter.

Jupiter's rotation
energizes the great red spot

and keeps it spinning.

But how did it get so large
in the first place?

The great red spot
is larger than whole planets.

Winds whip around it at over 400
miles per hour to form a cyclone

that rises nearly 5 miles
above the clouds.

The striking red color
is believed to be the gas

reacting with the sun's rays.

Behind the sunburnt surface,

these twisting clouds
remain gray inside.

As smaller storms approach,

they are ruthlessly cannibalized
by the giant.

Their energy and spin

add to the great red spot's
size and power.

Is this superstorm
destined to rage forever?

Today, scientists can see
something strange is happening.

Jupiter's great red spot

has been changing
over the past 20 years.

So, here, an image taken
in 1995,

where you can see that
the great red spot

is quite large
and oval-shaped.

If you compare this image
to one taken in 2009,

the spot has become
more circular,

and it's also smaller in size.

And then, from 2014,
shows, again,

a further shrinkage of the spot.

These NASA photos show just
how much the spot has changed

from 1994 to
the newest image in 2017.

The great red spot feeds
on other storms to survive.

It consumes them,

absorbing their energy
to keep spinning.

And if it's not fed,
it'll starve.

It's possible that,
in the past 20 years,

fewer of those vortices
have come into contact

with the great red spot.

Scientists also think
that some smaller storms

could actually damage
the great red spot.

Another possibility
is that it's eating,

if you will, vortices that are
spinning more slowly

than it is spinning,

and therefore, there's
a net loss of spin.

Storms that move more slowly or
spin in the opposite direction

could be putting the brakes
on the great red spot.

Its extraordinary longevity
could simply be

an exceptional streak of luck

that's only now running out.

The fact that it's changing,
and so quickly,

and so dramatically,
after being stable

for so long,
does suggest that, maybe,

something is taking place.

Maybe it will shrink
till the point we can't see it.

We don't know.
We have to keep watching.

Only time will tell
if Jupiter's most famous feature

will survive another 100 years.

The extreme physics on Jupiter

creates unparalleled weather
systems visible from space,

and scientists are just
beginning to understand

the conditions inside
the planet's clouds.

What they're finding
is extraordinary.

One of the big surprises

when we got to Jupiter
with a spacecraft,

was to see that there was
lightning on the dark side.

These images
taken by NASA spacecraft

are evidence of lightning
strikes in Jupiter's atmosphere.

They could trigger an
astonishing chemical reaction

deep inside Jupiter's
colorful clouds.

A thick fog of gas
surrounds Jupiter.

Friction in the clouds generates
super bolts of lightning.

These strikes are many times
more powerful

than lightning on earth.

62 miles beneath the surface,

the clouds harbor methane,
as well as hydrogen.

When the superheated
electric shock

rips through the atmosphere,

the conditions are perfect

for an extraordinary
chemical reaction

unlike anything else
in the solar system.

There's no question
that 85,000 miles across,

Jupiter is the king of all
planets in the solar system.

And the amazing forces at play
on this hostile planet

can create millions
of jewels fit for a crown.

Jupiter's
lightning bolts are stronger

than anything
we've witnessed on earth,

and the resulting
chemical reaction

unleashes a shower
of unimaginable riches.

The lightning transforms
the elements into diamonds.

Jupiter keeps its bling
on the inside,

because it may be
raining diamonds.

Now, think about this.

Jupiter has incredibly
strong winds,

and diamonds are really hard.

So, talk about a hail storm.

Scientists at Cardiff university

are trying to understand

how diamonds might be created
out of thin air on Jupiter.

Professor Oliver Williams
simulates Jupiter's

lightning-charged atmosphere
in the lab.

I'm using an airtight chamber
that I've sucked all the air out

to make a vacuum.

I'm flowing in 99% hydrogen
and 1% methane,

and this is like
the atmosphere of Jupiter.

But the experiment
really begins when Oliver adds

the final ingredient...
Lightning.

I'm gonna break this gas down
using high-power microwaves.

This is very like lightning,

where the high electric field
is breaking down the air

and making these
lightning bolts.

Microwaves,
like lightning on Jupiter,

break down hydrogen
and methane gas.

It glows purple
as the atoms break apart.

So, diamond is fundamentally
made out of carbon.

Methane is actually carbon
with four hydrogen atoms,

and we're able to strip
these hydrogen away.

The microwaves release
carbon atoms from methane gas.

The atoms join together
to form a diamond.

Inside this chamber,

a slice of diamond literally
grows out of thin air.

So, what we've done is,
we've broken down these gasses

that you do see
in places like Jupiter.

And from this chemistry,
we've grown a crystalline form

of carbon, which is diamond.

Experiments like this
suggest diamonds form like hail

in Jupiter's lightning storms.

But something even
more extraordinary happens

as they fall.

As the diamonds are zapped
into existence,

they begin to descend

through the atmosphere
as diamond hail stones.

They plummet thousands of miles

through Jupiter's atmosphere,
towards the core,

racing into higher and higher
pressures and temperatures.

When they hit 14,400 degrees,

they melt, creating a shower
of liquid diamond raindrops.

But what comes next

is an even more bizarre
theoretical possibility.

Diamond rain could lead

to a sparkling diamond ocean
far below.

Jupiter's world may be
stranger than science fiction.

The extreme physics on Jupiter

creates weather totally unlike
anything on earth.

The tremendous forces
forge a unique world

in our solar system.

In fact, Jupiter behaves
more like a star

than a mere planet.

Could Jupiter actually be
the sun's secret twin?

Jupiter and earth
are almost nothing alike.

In fact, Jupiter doesn't
share many qualities

with any of the planets
in our solar system.

What if Jupiter wasn't supposed
to be a planet at all?

What if it's really
a star in disguise?

Images captured from NASA's
Juno mission in 2017 show

that Jupiter is a planet
of extremes.

It dwarfs every other planet
in the solar system.

So, was Jupiter meant
to be a star?

Just as the sun is made
primarily of hydrogen,

so is Jupiter.

And so, it looks like a star,

only it's one
that's not burning.

Jupiter is really massive,

and it's held onto its hydrogen.

So, that's kind of unusual
in the solar system,

is to have a planet
made of hydrogen.

Scientists are beginning
to understand how Jupiter formed

by investigating what happened

in the early solar system.

They're hunting for clues

by observing the birth
of other distant stars.

Deep in the deserts
of California

sits the Owens valley
radio observatory.

These dishes make up
the Carma radio telescope array.

This location
is absolutely gorgeous.

Astronomer John Tobin scans
the skies for newborn stars.

Rather than building one
really big radio telescope,

which is very difficult to do,

they built a lot
of small dishes.

Then they linked them together.

And the further apart
you move them,

the higher resolution you get,

which means it acts
like a bigger telescope,

and you can see finer detail.

John is looking for protostars,

brand-new stars

that are only just condensing

from a vast cloud
of gas and debris.

A protostar is a newborn star,

so it's still
in the process of forming

and building up its mass.

And in interstellar space,

there are clouds
of gas and dust,

and at the center,
a protostar will be born.

Jupiter was formed from
the same clouds of hydrogen gas

and dust that formed stars.

Could it have formed
like a protostar?

John is finding evidence
thousands of light-years away

that explains
how star systems form.

This image is showing you

that the black and the contours,

they're the intensity
of the radiation

that we're detecting
from this protostar.

There's not just one protostar,

but there's two protostars.

So, these two peaks
that you see here and here,

those are the two
forming protostars.

It's a solar system
very different from our own.

And my first reaction
to this was, "wow."

I couldn't believe the detail

that we were seeing
towards this object.

Because previously, we knew
there was one thing there,

but then we found out
that there looks like

there's at least two objects
around this protostar.

And so, that was unexpected.

We didn't know that
we were gonna find that,

and so that was
a surprise to us.

Could Jupiter have once stood
toe-to-toe with the sun?

From the outside, each young
star system looks alike,

starting life as a spiraling
disc of dust and gas.

But what evolves inside
can be very different.

Deep in the middle of the disc,

turbulence can cause
the central cloud

to split into two
and collapse into not one,

but two shining stars
in the center.

The stars orbit each other
in a hypnotic dance.

Born from the same cloud,

this solar system
has twin stars.

Any dust and gas left over
will go on to form planets.

In our solar system, the sun
is the only shining star.

But another massive ball
of hydrogen

quietly orbits from afar...
Jupiter.

Could this planet be the sun's
double that didn't ignite?

Scientists believe
that solar systems

with twin suns are very common.

Well, since that first result
using these telescopes here,

we've been carrying out a much
larger survey of protostars,

in order to see just how many
star systems form with two

or three or more stars.

And we're finding that
a surprisingly large number

of star systems form
with more than one star.

John wants to try to
discover the precise conditions

that create these binary
solar systems,

where two stars
orbit each other.

We've been putting together
a compendium of images

of young star systems
in order to find out

which ones are binary
or multiple.

So, this one is
a single-star system.

This one here is a double.

As many as half of all stars

in the universe
have a partner star,

both formed from a single
disc of gas and dust

that breaks apart.

The system we were looking at
is located right here,

where the clouds of gas are kind
of stretched out and extended.

There might be
multiple centers of collapse

that can lead to the formation
of more than one star.

A cloud of gas and dust
that is stretched out

will likely collapse
into multiple stars

very close to each other.

John thinks our solar system

must have formed
in a different way.

So, we think
our own solar system

may have looked something
more like this one,

where you have just one star
surrounded by its disc,

and then the disc itself
is lower mass

and is not going to fragment
into more than one star.

Scientists believe
the type of hydrogen cloud

that gave rise
to our solar system

cut short Jupiter's quest
to become a star.

In its race to grow up,
the sun got a head start,

sucking up 99% of all the matter
in the young solar system.

When it reached
27 million degrees, it ignited.

Meanwhile, the same cloud
was condensing into Jupiter,

rapidly snowballing
to collect two-thirds

of all the matter left over.

But there was not enough
matter left

for Jupiter to get big enough
to ignite,

so it became a gas giant

more than double the mass
of all other planets

in the solar system combined.

No normal planet,

Jupiter is the star's
younger sibling.

It would make sense to think,

"well, where is
the sun's binary partner?"

And immediately,
the mind goes to Jupiter.

If Jupiter
had gathered enough mass

to ignite into a star,

it's unlikely that the earth
would have ever been formed.

The solar system would be
a very different place

with twin suns.

Instead, Jupiter became
the most extraordinary world

in the solar system.

Everything about Jupiter
is extreme.

Its mass is more than
300 times that of earth.

You could fit 1,000 earths
inside this one planet.

It has a magnetic
field so intense,

it would kill you
with the radiation.

Its winds blow
at over 400 miles an hour.

I mean, can you imagine
a more extreme place?

To me, Jupiter is perhaps

the most fascinating object
in our solar system.

It's certainly the most alien.

It is an enormous,

strange ball of swirling gas

surrounded by its own
miniature planetary system.

Formed at the very beginning
of the solar system

from the same material
as the sun,