Jool

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Revision as of 17:08, 21 September 2012 by Craigmt1 (talk | contribs) (expanded on natural satellites section)
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Jool in 0.17.
Jool is a gas giant and the fifth planet of the Kerbolar star system.
A probe visiting the gas giant.

Characteristics

  • Solar Day: ... hours, or ... hours, ... seconds.

Orbital Characteristics

Atmosphere

Aerobraking in Jool's atmosphere, with Laythe and Vall visible over the horizon.

Although Jool has a radius 10x bigger than Kerbin, its atmosphere only begins roughly twice as high (140 km). It is also extremely dense, well suited for aerobraking from a high-speed inter-planetary intercept.

Natural Satellites

Jool has four natural satellites:

The ocean moon Laythe, about to eclipse Jool.
  • The ocean moon Laythe, which has an atmosphere and is both the largest and closest to Jool. Due to it's high orbital velocity, it is somewhat challenging to reach.
  • The ice moon Vall, which is the second largest and second closest. It's orbital path and velocity sit almost exactly between Layth and Tylo.
  • The rocky moon Tylo, similar to Kerbin's Mun, is the third body orbiting Jool. It is perhaps the easiest of the four to reach, with a stable orbit, large gravity well, and (relatively) slow orbital velocity.
  • The captured asteroid Bop, the smallest body orbiting Jool. Due to it's distant, erratic orbit and low gravity, it is also challenging to reach.


Laythe, Vall, and Tylo are in a Laplace resonance, with orbital periods of 1:2:4 respectively.