The planet Jupiter's more massive than all the other planets in the Solar System put together. It's a stormy mass of raging gas and metallic hydrogen. The planet Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It has a diameter 11 times that of the Earth and a mass more than times that of the Earth which is greater than twice the sum of all the other planets.
Nevertheless its mass is less than one thousandth that of the Sun. It orbits the Sun at a distance of about million miles million km in just under 12 years. The structure of Jupiter is very unlike that of the Earth. The visible 'surface' of Jupiter is, in fact, the uppermost layers of clouds of methane and ammonia. The interior of Jupiter is still something of a mystery, which NASA's current Juno mission hopes to shed more light on.
Some scientists think that it's likely to be made up of a solid core of material similar to that of the Earth. Surrounding this is thought to be a dense mixture of metallic hydrogen and helium. On the Earth we know these two as gases which at very low temperatures can be liquefied; in Jupiter's interior the pressure is so high that the hydrogen takes up a state in which it behaves like a metal.
Though seemingly serene when viewed from the relative safety of our home world, Jupiter is a chaotic and stormy place. The gas giant planet's spots and swirls come from massive storms that whip up prevailing winds as fast as miles an hour at the equator—faster than any known winds on Earth. That includes the Great Red Spot, which is a massive hurricane-like storm called an anticyclone. It's far bigger and longer lasting than any tempests that have ever raged across our planet's surface: It rotates in an ever-present oval that's more than the width of the entire Earth, although it has been shrinking for as long as humans have been observing it.
Jupiter is a massive ball of gas. Its clouds are composed of ammonia and water vapor drifting in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. The particular cloud chemistries are likely the magic behind the planet's vibrant colors, but the exact reasons for Jupiter's painted appearance remains unknown. Below the gassy upper layers, the pressure and temperature increase so much that atoms of hydrogen eventually compress into a liquid.
Pressures climb so high that the hydrogen loses its electrons, and the soupy mess can host an electrical charge, just like metal. The planet's fast spin on its axis means that one Jupiter day lasts less than 10 Earth hours, and it sparks electrical currents that may drive the planet's intense and massive magnetic field, which is 16 to 54 times as powerful as Earth's. Jupiter is the second brightest planet in the night sky, after Venus , which allowed early astronomers to spot and study the massive planet hundreds of years ago.
In January , astronomer Galileo Galilei spotted what he thought were four small stars tagging along with Jupiter. These pinpricks of light are actually Jupiter's four largest moons, now known as the Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Many of these celestial orbs are as remarkable as Jupiter itself. The largest moon in the solar system, Ganymede is also the only moon known to have its own magnetic field. Volcanoes rage on Io's surface, earning it the title of the solar system's most volcanically active body.
And scientists believe Europa sports a deep, vast ocean beneath its icy crust , making it a top candidate in the hunt for alien life. But these are not the planet's only celestial tag-alongs. Jupiter has dozens more—and there may still be more to find. In alone, astronomers identified 23 new moons. And in June of , researchers discovered 12 more Jovian moons that wander in oddball paths around the giant world.
Since Galileo first laid telescope-enhanced eyes on Jupiter, scientists have continued to study the curious world from both the ground and the sky. In , NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft zipped by the gas giant, taking tens of thousands of pictures as they passed by. That discovery changed the way we see the universe.
Fifth in line from the Sun, Jupiter is, by far, the largest planet in the solar system — more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined. Jupiter's familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. If Earth were the size of a grape, Jupiter would be the size of a basketball.
Jupiter orbits about million miles million kilometers or 5. Jupiter rotates once about every 10 hours a Jovian day , but takes about 12 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun a Jovian year. Jupiter is a gas giant and so lacks an Earth-like surface. Jupiter's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen H 2 and helium He. All four giant planets in our solar system have ring systems.
Nine spacecraft have visited Jupiter. Seven flew by and two have orbited the gas giant. Juno, the most recent, arrived at Jupiter in Jupiter cannot support life as we know it. But some of Jupiter's moons have oceans beneath their crusts that might support life. The biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter also has a large presence in pop culture, including many movies, TV shows, video games, and comics.
Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It's similar to a star, but it never got big enough to start burning.
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