Is the planet featured in the film Predators a moon of Jupiter?

Answer 1

Whilst the planet seen in the sky bears a striking resemblance, it is unlikely to be Jupiter for the following reasons:

1) The moon on which the soldiers (etc) are stranded appears to have Earth level gravity so it would have be pretty large. It doesn't necessarily have to be as big as Earth itself but it would probably be bigger than any of the other moons around Jupiter - so if such a moon did exist, we would have discovered it, as we have discovered the others using telescopes and space probes.

2) The planet has a tropical climate which suggests it is close to it's parent star (within the "Goldilocks zone"). Jupiter is the 5th furthest planet from the Sun and so any moons around it will be frozen. Also the sun in the movie is (so far as I can tell - the characters don't comment on it) full sized. Whereas the Sun, as it would appear from Jupiter would be very small in the sky.

These are the biggest two clues that it is not Jupiter, but merely a planet that resembles it.

Now it is possible that the Predator aliens have "cloaked" the planet and are heating it by artificial means... but I think this unlikely. Maybe the sequel will tell us, if there ever is one.