QUESTION:
What is the solid mass of Jupiter?

ANSWER from Bob West on January 26, 1996:
We cannot see down to the deep core of Jupiter, but we can use
our knowledge of Jupiter's gravity field and of the physics of high
pressure materials to estimate how much of the heavy elements (iron
and rock-forming compounds) are concentrated in the core.
Some scientists estimatet Jupiter's core contains about 5
earth masses of heavy elements.  Because of Jupiter's great mass
(318 earth masses, most of which is hydrogen), the tremendous
pressure at the core compresses the 5 earth masses into a sphere
the same size as the earth.  The density of the core is then 5 times
the average density of the earth.