Jubiter is cryed efter the heid god o the Romans Jubiter or Jupiter. Jubiter is a michty cheil. It is bigger nor aw the planets o oor Sun Gird pit thegither an cuid swallae the Yird 1,300 times ower. It taks this warld near 12 year tae gang-roond the Sun but its day is jist 9 houres an 56 meenits lang. It is the king o the gaseous warlds – gey different tae the rocky inward warlds – wi a thin hap o cloods wheechin aboot its sphere while aneath is a lang, thick mass o hydrogen an helium. Forder doun this hydrogen is unner that muckle wecht that the brizz breks hydrogen doun intil atoms that maks a layer o metallic bree that fleets an birls. An aneath this, at the hert o Jubiter, is its sma, pairtly rocky sphere sizes wi oor Yird. Tho it isna weel kent, Jubiter haes three fent rings aboot it that’s made o thin stour, likely aff-fawins o the wee moons an drawn in aboot throu Jubiter’s wechty gravity.

The weather on Jubiter is fykie an aye-gauin. The cloods is makkit fae ammonia an aiblins a bittie watter that gaes aboot in baunds of sindry colours. As thir baunds gaes aroond thay fash ane anither an mak storms an heich, reevin winds. Whiles undemous flauchts can be seen flichtertin throu the cloods – the affcome o odious heat. For twa hunner year at least Jock Tamson’s bairns haes been tentie tae the Muckle Rid Plouk that bides sooth o the planet’s middle gird. The Plouk is the maist kenspeckle thing aboot this warld as it birls withershins aboot itsel ilka sax days or sae. We cuid fit the Yird in it nae bother. Sae whit is the Muckle Rid Plouk? The answer is – a storm. A storm that haes been blawin for a lang time. But ower time the maucht o the Plouk haes dywned sae that it micht diskythe awthegither in time tae come. In the bygane twinty year a new plouk, white tae stert wi, kythed in the sooth, an haes been growin sensyne. It is noo rid in colour sae astrologues haes cryed it the Sma Rid Plouk. No lang syne chenges in the flaw o gases in the north pole, caused wi magnetic pairticles, brocht aboot a caulder region that’s kent as the Plouk o Muckle Cauld.

Jubiter is awmaist a Sun Gird o its ain richt wi mony objects birlin aroond its mass.  The first human tae see this wis Italiens astrologue Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) in 1610. At first he took them for starns, stellt in the heevens, but as thay chenged poseetion ower days, diskythed, an kythed again, his een tellt Galileo the objects maun’a been gauin aroond Jubiter. In thae days Galileo cuid mak oot fower moons birlin aboot – noondays kent as Io, Europa, Ganymede an Callisto. Tae date the nummer o moons gauin aboot Jubiter that we hae knawledge o is up tae 79 tho maist o them is sma, jist five or sax mile braid. Oot the fower big moons, Io (soondit as ‘ee-o’) is the ane nearest Jubiter and wheechs roond it in jist ower a day. The fordest oot is Callisto an hit taks 16 days tae gang-roond. As thir moons birls aboot thay pull at ane anither in the bygang as daes Jubiter itsel. This is whit wey Io haes nae less nor 400 volcanoes in life the noo. Amang the moons it is jaloused that Europa is the maist favoured for life ayont oor warld. Europa haes a rocky hert an is happit wi a surface o ice that micht hae a wattery ocean ablow. As Europa gaes by Jubiter the pull o gravity gars it heat, ice on its surface breks an shifts, an it gies aff a thin atmosphere o oxygen. But whither the micht be ootrels unner the ice is a speir yet unanswert.

But for Jubiter Jock Tamson’s bairns micht no be here the day - but oor big neebor wisna aye a protector. It is jaloused that the poseetion o Jubiter some 3.8 billion year syne micht’a haen muckle tae dae wi thrawin aff-warld rocks the gait o the early rocky planets an giein them a sair dunt. Hooanever, as billions o year gaed by, an Jubiter took up its present stellt poseetion, its muckle gravity actit tae souk in mony o the unchancy rocks that micht’a heidit ramstam for oor planet. This wis brocht hame in 1994 throu the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet. This fiery besom haed gane by Jubiter a puckle times an in 1992 wis claucht that near tae the gaseous etin that it brak up intil a string o perlins unner the pull o gravity. Whit cam efter wis a ferlie. In 1994 whan the fiery perlins swung back thay war drawn dounwards an breenged intae Jubiter. As ae pairt efter anither gaed ben ilk ane sent up an undemous flist sizes wi oor hail warld. Haed this been the Yird we wadna be here ony mair. In 2009 a new scaur kythed in the sooth o Jubiter an astrologues concludit that anither rock – aiblins a sma asteroid – haed struck the planet, but naebody haed seen it comin. The thocht o it gars a body grue.