The Cornelii were one of the oldest and most prestigious Roman gentes, extended family kinship groups, in Republican Rome. Various members and branches advertise some kind of connection to Jupiter, Jupiter Optimus Maximus in particular, notably Scipio Africanus, but he was certainly not the only Cornelius to do so. Numismatic evidence has long suggested some kind of claimed relationship between the Cornelii and Jupiter. The Cornelian connection to the religious office of flamen Dialis (high priest of Jupiter) is more proof that their claims to be associated with Jupiter were accepted by Roman society. Some later branches of the Cornelii, notably the Sullae, began to prefer Venus instead, but a connection with Jupiter was still explicable via the genealogy of the Trojan royal house.

Recent numerical studies have shown that the entire solar system is permeated with arch-like structures originating from all planets. Particles placed on such arches experience planetary close encounters after only one or few orbital revolutions. In this work, we are interested how thece arches, which we associate to encounter manifolds of Jupiter, appear in three dimensions for higher inclinations.

Our results show that about 0.5% of the observed domain [a, e, i] = [2 AU, 11.5 AU] × [0, 0.7] × [0°, 90°] is covered by the manifolds. For inclinations up to ∼5°, the arch-like structures are almost unchanged compared to those initially observed in the orbital plane of Jupiter. At higher inclinations, the number of encounter orbits rapidly decreases to narrow domains where the manifolds stretch up to inclinations of 90° (and above) in a very steep manner.

The solar hydrologic cycle is the process of comets delivering water and gasses to the planets by collision, and solar wind stripping water and gasses from the planets and delivering them back to the Kuiper Belt. This new theory of solar hydrologic cycle provides that the solar hydrologic cycle is the continuation of planetary formation, and the cause of outer planets becoming gas giants, inner planets staying small rocks.

This article examines the Roman tradition that Numa once negotiated with Jupiter about human sacrifice. Complete versions of the myth survive in Ovid, Plutarch and Arnobius (citing Valerius Antias). Previous studies of this tradition have proposed four main interpretations of it, which have done important service in modern reconstructions of the character of Roman religion. These scholarly treatments raise several questions. First, are they actually supported by, or the most convincing way of reading, the surviving ancient sources? If so, have they been correctly attributed? Why might a specific ancient author present the myth of Numa and Jupiter in a manner which suggests one interpretation rather than another? What ideological and theological work does the story do for Ovid, for Plutarch and for Arnobius? Finally, can this myth, in whatever version, support the weight of the implications put on it for the character of Roman religion? This article seeks to enhance our understanding of this myth in its surviving versions, not just by analysing the evidence for each of the modern interpretations, but also by considering why ancient authors tell the myth of Numa and Jupiter the way they do. It is argued that their choices illustrate best not one meaning of the myth nor one Roman way of piety but the richness and diversity of religious reflection in antiquity.

Spacecraft have visited Jupiter and Saturn at all phases of the solar cycle and thus we have a wealth of data with which to explore both upstream parameters and magnetospheric response. In this paper we review upstream parameters including interplanetary magnetic field strength and direction, solar wind dynamic pressure, plasma beta and Mach number. We consider the impact of changing solar wind on dayside coupling via reconnection. We also comment on how solar UV flux variability over a solar cycle influences the plasma and neutral tori in the inner magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, and thus estimate the solar cycle effects on internally driven magnetospheric dynamics. Finally we place our results in the context of the now complete set of data from the Cassini mission at Saturn and the current data streaming in from Juno at Jupiter, outlining future avenues for research.

In the present investigation, radial diffusion of equatorially trapped electrons in the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Rotating Radio Transients (RRATs) are examined and compared. It is assumed that electrons lose energy through synchrotron radiation and the wave-particle interaction. The phase space density of the electrons, which go through gradB drift in Jupiter's and RRATs magnetospheres and thus resonate with the plasma waves, changes and this change predicted by the model seems to be consistent with the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 data for Jupiter's case and a similar result obtained for RRATs.

An international effort dedicated to science exploration of Jupiter system planned by ESA and NASA in the beginning of next decade includes in-depth science investigation of Europa. In parallel to EJSM (Europa-Jupiter System Mission) Russian Space Agency and the academy of Science plan Laplace-Europa Lander mission, which will include the small telecommunication and science orbiter and the surface element: Europa Lander. In-situ methods on the lander provide the only direct possibility to assess environmental conditions, and to perform the search for signatures of life. A critical advantage of such in situ analysis is the possibility to enhance concentration and detection limits and to provide ground truth for orbital measurements. The science mission of the lander is biological, geophysical, chemical, and environmental characterizations of the Europa surface. Remote investigations from the orbit around Europa would not be sufficient to address fully the astrobiology, geodesy, and geology goals. The science objectives of the planned mission, the synergy between the Europa Lander and EJSM mission elements, and a brief description of the Laplace-Europa Lander mission are presented.

A comparison of the Jovian and Saturnian rings is made by reviewing the recent advances in planetary spacecraft exploration and theoretical study. Two main issues are addressed, namely, the different structures of these two planetary ring systems and the water ice composition of the Saturnian rings. It is suggested that answers might be found by invoking tidal capture of Trans-Neptunian Objects with highly differentiated structures even though catastrophic breakup of pre-existing satellites in the ring regions remains a real possibility. Erosion mechanisms such as meteoroid impact, photo-sputtering, orbital instability of charged dust particles and thermal evaporation acting at different time scales could lead to the preservation of the Saturnian ring system but not the Jovian ring system of large mass originally.

Differential rotation, similar to that seen on our gas giants, is manifested at the surface of three-dimensional (3D) computer simulations of thermal convection in density-stratified rotating planets without solid cores. Below the surface, the flow forms short axially-aligned vortices, generated by fluid expanding as it rises and contracting as it sinks. The convergence of the nonlinear Reynolds stresses resulting from the vorticity generated by fluid flowing through the density stratification maintains the surface banded zonal flow without the classical vortex stretching of Taylor columns. These preliminary simulations demonstrate that large non-convecting cores are not required to obtain multiple zonal jets at the surface, and show greater convective heat flux towards the poles relative to that seen at the equator. This result could help explain the nearly uniform with latitude thermal emission observed at the surface of Jupiter.

Three basic modeling approaches have been used to numerically simulate fluid turbulence and the banded zonal winds in the interiors and atmospheres of giant planets: shallow-water models, deep-shell Boussinesq models and deep-shell anelastic models. We review these models and discuss the approximations and assumptions upon which they are based. All three can produce banded zonal wind patterns at the surface. However, shallow-water models produce a retrograde (i.e., westward) zonal jet in the equatorial region, whereas strong prograde (i.e., eastward) equatorial jets exist on Jupiter and Saturn. Deep-shell Boussinesq models maintain prograde equatorial jets by the classic method of vortex stretching of convective columnar flows; however, they neglect the effects of the large density stratification in these giant planets. Deep-shell anelastic models account for density stratification and maintain prograde equatorial jets by generating vorticity as rising fluid expands and sinking fluid contracts, without the constraint of long thin convective columns.

This report is a brief summary of some of the major achievements in studies of planets and satellites that have been accomplished during the years 2003–2005. Unlike previous years, we do not attempt to provide a detailed overview of the field but rather choose to highlight aspects which are of particular novelty.

The orbital evolution of planetary systems similar to our Solar one represents one of the most important problems of Celestial Mechanics. In the present work we use Jacobian coordinates, introduce two systems of osculating elements, construct the Hamiltonian expansions in Poisson series for all the elements for the planetary three-body problem (including the problem Sun–Jupiter–Saturn). Further we construct the averaged Hamiltonian by the Hori–Deprit method with accuracy up to second order with respect to the small parameter, the generating function, the change of variables formulae, and the right-hand sides of the averaged equations. The averaged equations for the Sun–Jupiter–Saturn system are integrated numerically over a time span of 10 Gyr. The Liapunov Time turns out to be 14 Myr (Jupiter) and 10 Myr (Saturn).To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html