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Jupiter Facts

Jupiter Facts
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is the fifth planet from the sun, classified as a gas planet and a giant just like Uranus, Saturn and Neptune. Made up mostly of hydrogen, and a smaller percentage of helium, Jupiter does not have a very well-defined surface. It was first seen in the 17th century by telescope, but astronomers have been observing and recording Jupiter since ancient times. The planet was named after the king of Roman gods, Jupiter. There is a ring system around Jupiter but it is faint. AT night, Jupiter is often the fourth brightest object in the sky. The sun, the moon and Venus are brighter.
Interesting Jupiter Facts:
Jupiter has also been referred to as Zeus (the Greek god of thunder), and Marduk the Mesopotamian.
The mass of Jupiter equals 2.5 times the mass of all other planets in our solar system combined.
Jupiter weighs 1,898,130,000,000,000,000 billion kg. This equals 318 times earth's mass.
Jupiter's circumference is 439,264 km.
Jupiter's diameter is 11 times the size of earths.
Jupiter is the fastest rotating planet in our solar system. Its days are only 10 hours long.
Jupiter has 67 known moons. Several of these moons have been named after the Roman god Jupiter's many lovers.
It takes Jupiter 12 (earth) years to orbit the sun.
Jupiter's existence was first recorded in the 7th or 8th century BC by Babylonian astronomers.
According to a Chinese historian of astronomy, a Chinese astronomer named Gan De discovered one of Jupiter's moons with the naked eye in 362 BC.
A storm on Jupiter known as ‘The Great Red Storm' has been going on for 350 years, minimum. It is so large that you could fit two planet earths inside of it.
An object that weighs 100 pounds on earth would weigh 264 pounds on Jupiter.
The surface temperature on Jupiter is -108 degrees Celsius.
The magnetic field on Jupiter is 20,000 times stronger than earth's magnetic field.
There have been many flyby missions to Jupiter, and one successfully orbited the planet beginning in 1995 and ending seven years later.
The first flyby occurred in 1973, when the Pioneer 10 spacecraft came within 130,000km of Jupiter. In 1974, the Pioneer came within 34,000km of Jupiter.
There has been no evidence of life on Jupiter as of yet.
Jupiter's radiation can be detected here on earth.
Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede is also the largest moon in our solar system.
Jupiter's moon Ganymede is larger than Mercury.
Galileo Galilei discovered Jupiter's four largest moons in 1610 with a telescope.
It is believed by some that there may be life on one of Jupiter's moons, Europa.
Some refer to Jupiter as the solar system's vacuum because of its gravity and the fact that it experiences the most comet impacts of all the planets in our solar system.
The pressure on Jupiter's surface and the high temperatures would make it impossible for any earth-type life to exist on the planet.
It is possible to see Jupiter with the naked eye at night and also sometimes during the day when the sun is low in the sky.


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