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Why does Jupiter have no solid surface?

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photo of Jupiter taken by Voyager 1 — Jupiter Photograph of Jupiter taken by Voyager 1 on February 1, 1979, at a range of 32.7 million km (20.3 million miles). Prominent are the planet's pastel-shaded cloud bands and Great Red Spot (lower centre).

Jupiter does not have a solid surface because it is a gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. Rather than having a distinct boundary between a surface and an atmosphere, the transition from the gaseous outer layers to the fluid interior occurs gradually at great depths.12

Within the planet, hydrogen exists in different states depending on the extreme pressure and temperature conditions. At approximately one-fourth of the distance toward the center, there is a transition from molecular hydrogen to metallic hydrogen; however, this is a transition between two fluids with different electrical properties rather than a change from liquid to solid. While many scientific models incorporate a dense core, the planet as a whole lacks a solid surface, functioning instead as a massive, fluid-dominated body.12