The largest planet , one - tenth the size of the sun, is a whirling ball of gas compressed to liquid in the interior. Jupiter's Great Red Spot, an intense windstorm with a diameter three times that of Earth , was first observed 300 years ago. Among Jupiter's satelites, Io alone has an athmosphere - albeit a tenous one - and volcanoes. The most vilent eruptions eject sulfur and sulfur compounds hundreds kilometers above the surface and may may feed particles into the faint ring that encicles Jupiter. Another satelite, Europa, is covered with a layer of ice, which may overlie oceans of liquid water.
Satelites/Moons:16 in total: Andrastea, Metis, Amelthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Carme, Posiphae, and Sinope.
DISTANCE FROM SUN:778,300,000 km.
REVOLUTION AROUND SUN:11.86 years.
ROTATION:9.9 hours.
DIAMETER:142,800 km.
DENSITY:1.3 * that of water.
MASS:318 * that of Earth.
SURFACE TEMPERATURE:minus 130 C at cloud tops.
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