Facts About the Planet Jupiter

If you think you know everything about the planet Jupiter, here’s a list of the top fifteen most interesting facts, see how many you know!

1. Jupiter is the 5^th planet from the Sun.
2. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system, with a diameter of 142,984 KM.
3. It is classed as a gas giant, as is Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
4. The Romans named the planet after the Roman God, Jupiter.
5. From Earth, Jupiter is the third brightest object in the night sky, after the moon and Venus.
6. Jupiter is mainly composed from hydrogen and helium. It also has a rocky core of heavier elements.
7. A staggering 64 moons orbit Jupiter!
8. The four largest moons are called the Galilean Moons, as they were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610.
9. Jupiter’s largest moon is called Ganymede, and has a greater diameter then the planet Mercury.
10. The giant red spot on Jupiter is a persistent storm that is larger than Earth! This is known to have been in existence since 1655. Now that is a long storm…
11. These rings are made from dust, rather than ice, like the rings of Saturn.
12. The magnetic field of Jupiter is some fourteen times stronger than that of Earth’s, making it the strongest in the solar system.
13. The average distance from Jupiter to the Sun is about 778 million KM, which is nearly 5.2 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.
14. Jupiter’s rotation is the fastest of all the planets in the Solar System. It completes a full rotation in less than 10 hours.
15. Jupiter completes a rotation of the Sun every 11.86 years.