Jupiter

The definition of Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, or the supreme god in Roman mythology.

Facts About Jupiter

• Jupiter was named for the Roman king of the gods.
• Jupiter is the the fifth planet in the solar system and the largest of all the known planets, more than eleven times bigger that Earth.
• Jupiter contains both atmospheric gases and gases underneath the surface of the planet:

• Atmospheric Gases - Ammonia and Ammonium Hydrosulfide

• Gases Underneath the Surface - Helium, Methane, Hydrogen and Ammonium Hydrosulfide

• It is believed to have a small, rocky core.
• Jupiter has four faint dust rings which were detected in 1979.
• It is noted for it’s colorful striations of red, white, yellow, and brown. The light colored areas are called bands while the darker colored areas are called belts.
• Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field of all of the planets in the solar system.
• There are very strong electrical currents running through this planet.
• Jupiter generates its own heat.
• It has clouds of ammonia crystals. The temperature in the cloud tops of Jupiter is 230 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Jupiter is five times farther away from the Sun than the Earth. Its average distance from the sun is 483,780,000 miles.
• Jupiter spins faster than any other planet in our solar system which causes it to bulge in the middle and flatten at the poles. Jupiter rotates in approximately 10 hours.
• Jupiter has an elliptical orbit around the sun. One orbit is almost 12 Earth years long. It takes Jupiter 12 Earth years to orbit once around the sun.
• Jupiter’s most noticeable feature is called the Great Red Spot. It is an enormous, violent storm, similar to a hurricane on Earth and measures approximately the same diameter as Earth. Scientists are not completely sure what causes the Great Red Spot.
• To date, Jupiter has 63 known moons and confirmed satellites, the most of any planet. The moons were only discovered after 1975.
• Galileo’s observation of Jupiter’s moons was the first known recording of them, and Galileo was the first individual to observe Jupiter using a telescope.
• Seven different probes have been sent to learn more about Jupiter. The first was Pioneer 10 which did a fly by of Jupiter in 1973. In 1979, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 discovered Jupiter's rings. The Galileo orbitor, launched in 1989, reached orbit by 1995 and collected data for over seven years until 2003 when it was intentionally crashed into the planet.