Jupiter

The 5th planet from the sun.

• Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun in our solar system.   It is approximately 483 million miles from the sun.
• Jupiter is about 88,846 miles in diameter.  It is the largest planet in our solar system.  The Earth could fit 11 times across the diameter of Jupiter.
• It takes Jupiter about 12 Earth years to orbit the sun one time.
• A day (from sunrise to sunset) on Jupiter is only about 10 hours, about half the time it takes the Earth to spin once.
• Jupiter's atmosphere is made up of hydrogen and helium.
• Jupiter has a faint ring around it.  The planet looks to be very colorful because of cloud layers, lightining storms, and ultraviolet light on the planet.  It also has a giant red spot on the surface which is actually a giant storm that has been around for over 300 years.
• The average temperature in Jupiter's atmosphere is -244° F.
• Jupiter has 17 satellites, or moons.  The 4 largest moons are known as the Galilean moons because Galileo discovered them in 1610.
• Much was learned about Jupiter in 1979 when the Voyagers 1 and 2 spacecrafts took pictures and measurements as they passed by the planet.  In 1995 the Galileo space probe was sent to measure Jupiter's atmosphere.  It was only able to send some data before burning up in Jupiter's atmosphere.
• Jupiter gives off twice as much energy as it gets from the sun.
• Jupiter is named after the Roman God of rain, thunder, and lightning.