Jupiter l Jupiter facts, pictures and information. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest. Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined (the mass of Jupiter is 318 times that of Earth). Planet Profile orbit: 778,330,000 km (5.20 AU) from Sundiameter: 142,984 km (equatorial)mass: 1.900e27 kg History of Jupiter Jupiter (a.k.a. Jove; Greek Zeus) was the King of the Gods, the ruler of Olympus and the patron of the Roman state. Zeus was the son of Cronus (Saturn). Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, the Moon and Venus). Jupiter was first visited by Pioneer 10 in 1973 and later by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Ulysses. The gas planets do not have solid surfaces, their gaseous material simply gets denser with depth (the radii and diameters quoted for the planets are for levels corresponding to a pressure of 1 atmosphere).
Jupiter is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium (by numbers of atoms, 75/25% by mass) with traces of methane, water, ammonia and "rock". Jupiter. Structure Jupiter is composed primarily of gaseous and liquid matter. It is the largest of four gas giants as well as the largest planet in the Solar System with a diameter of 142,984 km (88,846 mi) at its equator. The density of Jupiter, 1.326 g/cm3, is the second highest of the gas giants, but lower than for any of the four terrestrial planets.
Composition Jupiter's upper atmosphere is composed of about 88–92% hydrogen and 8–12% helium by percent volume or fraction of gas molecules. Since a helium atom has about four times as much mass as a hydrogen atom, the composition changes when described as the proportion of mass contributed by different atoms. Thus, the atmosphere is approximately 75% hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, with the remaining one percent of the mass consisting of other elements.
Mass Jupiter's diameter is one order of magnitude smaller (×0.10045) than the Sun, and one order of magnitude larger (×10.9733) than the Earth. Internal structure Atmosphere Cloud layers. Jupiter. Jupiter information for kids. Learn interesting facts about Jupiter, our solar system's biggest planet. Find out what that giant red spot really is! Photo Credit: NASA By Lindsey Hadwin Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun, is the biggest planet in our solar system. Jupiter is so big, that it could fit more than 1,300 Earths inside! Unlike Earth, which has solid ground for us to walk on, Jupiter is a big ball of gas. No one knows for sure what is at Jupiter's core, because the planet can't support life. If you look at a picture of Jupiter, you'll notice a bunch of swirls and stripes. On Jupiter, a day is only a little over ten hours long—meaning that Jupiter rotates very fast on its axis. Jupiter has at least 61 moons and 3 rings.
If you look at Jupiter through a telescope, you'll be able to see Jupiter's four big moons—the same moons that Galileo discovered almost 500 years ago. Io is the closest moon to Jupiter. Callisto is a frozen moon that is bigger than our moon. The largest of the Galilean moons is Ganymede. Jupiter, Jupiter Information. Jovian Giant The most massive planet in our solar system, with four planet-size moons and many smaller satellites, Jupiter forms a kind of miniature solar system. Jupiter resembles a star in composition. In fact, if it had been about eighty times more massive, it would have become a star rather than a planet. On January 7, 1610, using his primitive telescope, astronomer Galileo Galilei saw four small "stars" near Jupiter. He had discovered Jupiter's four largest moons, now called Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Collectively, these four moons are known today as the Galilean satellites. Galileo would be astonished at what we have learned about Jupiter and its moons in the last 30 years. Jupiter's appearance is a tapestry of beautiful colors and atmospheric features. Atmosphere The composition of Jupiter's atmosphere is similar to that of the sun—mostly hydrogen and helium. Jupiter's enormous magnetic field is nearly 20,000 times as powerful as Earth's. —Text courtesy NASA/JPL. Interesting Facts About Jupiter. Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter Think you know everything about Jupiter?
Think again. Here are a set of 10 facts about Jupiter. Some you might know, and others will be totally new to you. 1. No, it’s really massive. If Jupiter got any more massive, it would actually get smaller. 2. Astronomers call Jupiter a failed star, but that’s not really appropriate. 3. For all its size and mass, Jupiter sure moves quickly. 4. That’s right, all those beautiful whirling clouds and storms you see on Jupiter are only about 50 km thick. 5. The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is one of its most familiar features. 6. The rings around Jupiter were the third set of rings discovered in the Solar System, after Saturn (of course) and Uranus. 7. Compasses would really work on Jupiter. 8. At the time that I’m writing this, Jupiter has a total of 63 named satellites. 9. Start counting. 10. Jupiter is the third brightest object in the Solar System, after Venus and the Moon. Jupiter's Moons. An Organic ocean on Jupiter's Moon europa?
If you went by news coverage alone, you’d think there’s only one world in the solar system aside from Earth worth studying—and that, of course, is Mars. NASA’s Curiosity rover is inching its way across the Red Planet’s Gale Crater; the Opportunity rover has entered its tenth year of exploration in a region some 5,000 miles (8,000 km) away; and a new rover, named InSight, is on the schedule for a 2016 launch. Why all that attention? In a word, water. Mars had plenty of it once, enough that life might have been able to take hold and could still, in theory, be hanging on in still-wet pockets below the surface. But another world in our Solar System doesn’t have to look to the past for its maritime days. Long before astronomers could know Europa’s composition for sure, they suspected that it might be covered in ice.
(MORE: Voyager 1 at the Threshold of Forever) (MORE: Did a Distant Solar System Send Life to Earth?) That doesn’t suggest the Europan ocean is salt-free. Jupiter - The Planet Jupiter - Jupiter For Kids. Ask an Astronomer for KIDS! - What is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter?