1935 the Jewish population in Palestine
was about 300,000.
This Jewish immigration increased
greatly when Adolf Hitler came to
power in Germany in the early 1930s.
Hitler and his Nazi Party hated the Jews.
First the Nazis made life hard for Jews,
and later they decided to kill them. This
crime became known as the Holocaust.
The Holocaust ended with the defeat of
Germany inWorldWar II in 1945.
Three years later the modern country of
Israel was founded as a homeland for the
Jews.
..More to explore
Abraham • Bible • Holocaust • Israel
• Jerusalem • Moses • Palestine
• Synagogue • Talmud • Torah
Juneau
Population
(2000 census)
30,711; (2007
estimate)
30,690
Juneau is the capital of the U.S. state of
Alaska. It has the largest area of any U.S.
city. The city covers more than 3,000
square miles (8,000 square kilometers).
Juneau lies on the Gastineau Channel, a
narrow passage of the Pacific Ocean.
The city has no road connections with
most of the rest of Alaska. It must be
reached by air or water.
Many people in Juneau work for the
government. Tourism, fishing, forestry,
and mining are also important to the
city’s economy.
The Juneau area was once a fishing
camp of the Tlingit Indians. In 1880
gold was discovered there. Gold miners
Juneau, Alaska, lies at the foot of Mount
Roberts and Mount Juneau.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Juneau 39
then founded Juneau. For many years
the city was the mining center of Alaska.
Juneau’s gold mine closed in 1944.
Juneau became the capital of Alaska in
1900. In 1959 Alaska became a U.S.
state. Juneau was then the state capital.
#More to explore
Alaska
Juniper
Junipers are evergreen trees and shrubs
with fragrant wood and flavorful berries.
They belong to the cypress family. Some
junipers are called cedars, but they are
not true cedars. True cedars belong to
the pine family.
Junipers are found throughout the
northern parts of the world. They grow
well in shallow, rocky soil. The roots are
often aboveground, and they can curl
around boulders and other objects.
Junipers can grow as a low, spreading
shrub or as an upright tree. Some trees
are as tall as 60 feet (18 meters). The
bark is brownish red or gray. The leaves
are flat and look like needles. They can
be bright green, golden, silvery, or bluish
green. Juniper berries can be white, pale
green, blue, purple, or black.
Junipers grow very slowly and can live a
long time. Some junipers growing in the
western United States are estimated to
be more than 2,000 years old.
Juniper wood is used to make fence
posts, pencils, and storage chests. The
berries are used to flavor meats, sauces,
and drinks. Oil from junipers is used in
perfumes and soaps.
#More to explore
Cedar • Cypress • Tree
Juno
#see Hera.
Jupiter
Jupiter is one of the planets that orbit,
or travel around, the sun in the solar
system. It is the largest planet in the
solar system. In fact, it is bigger than all
the other planets put together. Jupiter is
the fifth planet from the sun. It travels
around the sun at an average distance of
about 484 million miles (780 million
kilometers).
Physical Features
Jupiter is so huge that it could contain
more than 1,000 Earths. Its diameter, or
distance through its center, is about
89,000 miles (143,000 kilometers).
Juniper berries are used to flavor foods and
drinks.
40 Juniper BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Jupiter is a kind of planet called a gas
giant. It consists almost entirely of gases,
mainly hydrogen and helium. The
planet has no solid surface.
Jupiter’s clouds appear in colored spots
and bright and dark stripes. These markings
show the planet’s weather patterns.
One of the spots is a huge storm called
the Great Red Spot. The storm is more
than twice as wide as Earth. It has lasted
hundreds of years.
Deep inside Jupiter is an area of hot,
thick liquid. The planet’s center may
reach temperatures of 45,000° F
(25,000° C).
A system of thin rings surrounds Jupiter.
The rings consist of tiny rocks and dust.
They are much smaller and dimmer
than the planet Saturn’s rings.
Orbit and Spin
Like all planets, Jupiter has two types of
motion: orbit and spin. Jupiter orbits, or
travels around, the sun very slowly. It
takes about 12 Earth years to complete
one orbit. In other words, a year on
Jupiter lasts about 12 Earth years.
Jupiter also spins rapidly about its center.
The planet takes less than 10 hours
to complete one rotation. That is how
long a day lasts on Jupiter.
Moons
More than 60 moons orbit Jupiter. Most
of them are very small. However, Jupiter
has four very large moons: Io, Europa,
Callisto, and Ganymede. Ganymede is
larger than the planet Mercury.
Observation and Exploration
People have observed Jupiter from Earth
since ancient times. Scientists sent the
first unmanned spacecraft to the planet
in the 1970s. The spacecraft, called Pioneer
10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2,
flew by the planet and collected information
about it.
Later the unmanned U.S. Galileo spacecraft
orbited Jupiter. In 1995 it dropped
an object called a probe toward the
planet. The probe sailed through the
upper layers of Jupiter’s gases and measured
their properties. It was the first
