Jupiter is the most giant planet in our solar system and resembles a small star in many respects, although never big enough for combustion.

It has an atmospheric surface covered by swirling cloud stripes. Jupiter hosts numerous large storms like its Great Red Spot, which has been active for hundreds of years. 

As Jupiter is composed entirely of gas rather than solid material, its core remains unknown – it could consist of solid material or something even hotter and thicker, like soup.

Jupiter also boasts rings, which can occasionally be glimpsed, but most often, they remain hidden behind clouds, obscuring surface clouds obscuring them altogether.

Jupiter planet is the, the fifth planet from the Sun, and the giant solar system planet Systemong, enthralled scientists.

This mysterious world, named after Roman gods, is covered with colourful clouds. The Great Red Spot stands out as its most well-known feature – two times larger than Earth.

When Was Jupiter Discovered?

In 1610, when Galileo found Jupiter and its four moons, Europa, and Ganymede, he revolutionised the way people viewed the universe and their place within it.

This was the first time celestial bodies had been seen to circle an object other than Earth, and it supported the Copernican theory that Earth is not the centre.

How Big is Jupiter?

NASA reports that Jupiter dwarfs all other planets. Its enormous volume could hold over 1300 Earths if Jupiter were as prominent as a basketball court. Earth would appear smaller compared to Jupiter compared to this size scale.

Jupiter, formed from gases left over after the Sun began, is considered one of the oldest planets in our solar system. According to NASA estimates, had Jupiter been 80 times larger during its formation, it might have formed into a star instead.

How Far is Jupiter From The Sun?

Jupiter is located approximately 483,682,810 kilometres (778,412,020 miles) from the Sun. This is 5.203 times the average distance of Earth from the Sun.

Jupiter’s closest approach to the Sun is at perihelion. At this time, Jupiter is 740,742,600 kilometres (460,276,100 mi) away. Jupiter is located at a distance of 507,089 500 miles (816,081,400 km).

Does Jupiter Have A Solid Surface?

Jupiter is a giant gas planet. It does not have an actual solid surface. The extreme pressures and temperatures would prevent a spacecraft from landing on Jupiter or flying through it.

Structure and Surface

• Jupiter is the most giant planet in our solar system. The system is more than twice the size of all other planets in our solar system. The system is a giant gas planet. It is mainly made of hydrogen and Helium.
• Jupiter’s atmosphere is very dense.
• Jupiter has rings, but it isn’t easy to see them.
• The Great Red Spot on the giant planet is a storm that has been around for centuries and is more significant than Earth.

Time on Jupiter

• In just 10 hours, a day on Jupiter is gone.
• Jupiter’s year is equal to 11.8 Earth-years.

Jupiter’s Neighbours

• Jupiter has officially recognized 95 moons.
• Jupiter is located fifth from the Sun. Mars and Saturn are Jupiter’s neighbours.

Quick History

• Jupiter is known to ancient cultures because it’s easy to see with our naked eyes. You don’t need any special equipment.
• Jupiter has been visited by or passed over by many spacecraft, orbiters, and probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 & 2, Cassini New Horizons, and Juno.
• Jupiter also has auroras like Earth. The auroras are not only massive, but they are also hundreds of times more energetic. They never stop, unlike the auroras on Earth.

A Jupiter Expert Answers Your FAQs

Is Jupiter A Gas Planet?

Jupiter may appear like an immense gas cloud, but it is a planet with an atmosphere that warms and thickens as you explore deeper within it.

Jupiter is like Earth in that its pressures are similar. Yet, as you descend deeper, they increase – similar to when submersibles submerge into our oceans and experience crushing densities while submerging.

Jupiter’s main component, hydrogen, has become so compressed it has taken on metallic properties – an endless source of exotic materials and mysterious environments.

What is the Great Red Spot?

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, also dubbed an anticyclone due to its counterclockwise rotation in its south hemisphere, is an expansive swirling vortex capable of swallowing two Earths simultaneously.

Winds that blow around its edges protect calm, quiet air within this vortex from turbulent, stormy air outside it.

Sun’s ultraviolet light heats interior air, stimulating chemical processes that absorb blue light. Only red light reflected towards an observer is then reflected toward them.

This phenomenon has existed since the Victorian era, almost 200 years prior, although its east-west spread has steadily reduced.

Is There Another Planet Larger Than Jupiter?

It is not in our solar system. Jupiter and Saturn have the most significant Ice Giants. Uranus, Neptune, and the more minor rocky planets are all “intermediate” sized.

We can see that there are many exoplanets around other stars. There were more than 5000 discovered at the last count. Some of these planets have a larger size, and some may be “inflated” because they’re so close to their star.

Why Is Jupiter Called A “Failed Star” At Times?

Jupiter and other giant planets share many of the same elements with our Sun. There are, however, differences in ingredients beyond hydrogen and Helium that set these planets apart from one another.

Given enough material, they could ignite nuclear fusion to turn hydrogen into Helium through atomic fission. Brown dwarfs, located between giant planets and main-sequence stars, are too light and small to ignite nuclear fission to burn hydrogen directly;

However, if they were 13 times the mass of Jupiter, then atomic fission might also allow them to use nuclear fission to burn deuterium directly instead.

Jupiter Environment

Jupiter shares many characteristics with our Sun, such as an atmosphere of hydrogen and Helium primarily, as evidenced by a fluid metallic hydrogen layer rich in Helium surrounding its “fuzzy” core or partially-dissolved centre.

Strong east-west winds reaching speeds over 335 mph (539 km/h) in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere are responsible for the colourful bands of light and darkness surrounding this world.

White clouds are frozen ammonia crystals in their light zones, while darker shadows contain chemicals. Blue hues appear at lower visible levels; their stripes move around constantly as time progresses.

Diamond rain may fill the sky, yet deep within our atmosphere lies an unknown core that remains dense and mysterious.

According to the University of Colorado at Boulder, Jupiter has an almost 20,000 times stronger magnetic field than Earth.

It traps electrically charged particles and electrons in an intense belt that regularly bombards its rings and moons with radiation 1,000 times higher than that lethal to people;

Such robust radiation levels have even damaged spacecraft with heavy shielding, such as NASA’s Galileo probe.

Jupiter’s magnetosphere extends 600,000 to 2 Million miles (1 to 3 Million km) towards the Sun before tapering off into an extended tail stretching over 1 Billion km behind it – before eventually tailing off into an invisibly distant seat extending back beyond 600 Million km.

Does Jupiter Have Rings Or Not?

This image was captured by the star tracker on NASA’s Juno probe during its first close approach to Jupiter on Aug. 27, 2016.

This is the first time that rings have been seen from within. Betelgeuse is the bright star that can be seen above the main ring. Orion’s belt, which can be found in the lower left, is also visible.

What is the Great Red Spot?

The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is one of its most striking features, an eye-catching hurricane-like storm that has endured for more than 300 years and grown twice the size of Earth at its maximum extent. NASA estimates its edge rotates counterclockwise with speeds between 430-680 kph, making it an anticyclone.

Jupiter’s ammonia crystals may contain trace amounts of sulphur or phosphorus, causing its colour to shift from brick red to slightly brown. Their rate of decrease has decreased over time but may have recently stopped.

Jupiter also experiences its share of storms. Data collected by Juno in 2022 demonstrated that Jupiter’s massive polar cyclones, comparable to Earth’s ocean vortexes, were caused by convection – where heat rises from lower layers into higher ones – rather than storm activity directly.

Jupiter Moons

Jupiter acquires 79 moons, each named after either lovers or descendants of Roman deities with similar names. Galileo Galilei first identified four large moons, Io, Europa, and Ganymede – popularly referred to as Galilean Moons – which he discovered.

Ganymede, our solar system’s moon, is more significant than Mercury and Pluto combined. NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured its audible magnetic field soundwave in 2021.

According to one study published 2014 in the Journal of Planetary and Space Science, at least one ocean lies beneath layers of ice;

Another found multiple ocean layers and atmospheric water vapour (first detected in 2021). European Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft hopes to reach Jupiter’s system System.

It is one of the most volcanically active bodies in our solar system. The system orbits Jupiter’s gravity, and “tides” form on Io’s surface.

These “tides,” reaching up to 300 feet (100 metres), generate enough heat for volcanism to occur – spewing over one ton of material every second into space, which helps Jupiter develop radio waves.

Io has yellow-orange-coloured sulphur-filled volcanoes, which create its unique yellow hue reminiscent of pepperoni pizza.

Europa is covered with thick ice that may conceal an ocean with twice as much water as Earth’s oceans. The Hubble Space Telescope detected more water vapour above Europa in 2021.

In 2021, Europa’s north pole was photographed for the first time; undersea volcanic activity increased hopes that Europa might support life.

In partnership with NOAA and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (NOAA), NASA may one day send an autonomous submarine to explore Europa’s oceans covered with ice.

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, scheduled to launch by 2020, would also perform 40-45 flybys of Europa to determine its habitability.

Callisto is the Galilean Moon with the lowest albedo, suggesting its surface could consist of dark and colourless rocks. NASA believes Callisto, often seen as a dull counterpart amongst other Galilean Moons, could conceal an ocean beneath its heavily cratered surface.

Jupiter’s Rings

NASA’s Voyager 1 was surprised when it found three faint rings near Jupiter’s equator in 1979. These delicate structures seem much thinner than Saturn’s colourful and chunky rings and may consist of streams of dust produced from some of Jupiter’s moons.

According to the Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Juno Mission website, its main ring has been significantly flattened, now measuring 20 miles (30km). Furthermore, its overall width exceeds 6,400 miles (8,700km).

SwRI reported that the inner donut-shaped ring (also referred to as “toroidal”), commonly referred to as the halo, measures more than 12,000 miles (20,000 km).

This phenomenon results from electromagnetic forces pushing grains off their central ring plane; both elements consist of dark dust particles.

The Gossamer Ring of Jupiter consists of three microscopic rings of debris from its three moons: Amalthea Thebe and Adrastea.

According to NASA’s Galileo Mission, these gossamer rings may contain dust particles as small as those produced during cigarette smoking and reach approximately outwards for approximately 80,000 miles (129,000 kilometres) before going inwardly for about 18600 miles (30 kilometres).

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