NASA/STSCI (S.T.A.R.S), Public domainJupiter
The giant that outweighs all other planets combined, with a storm older than the telescope
Overview
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass nearly 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined and slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. The diameter of Jupiter is 11 times that of Earth and a tenth that of the Sun. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm), with an orbital period of 11.86 years. Jupiter is the third-brightest natural object in the Earth's night sky, after the Moon and Venus, and has been observed since prehistoric times. It was named after Jupiter, the chief deity of ancient Roman religion.
Source: Wikipedia
Why it matters
- Its Great Red Spot is an anticyclone wider than Earth that has raged for at least 190 years.
- Juno found that Jupiter's core is 'fuzzy' — a diluted region rather than a compact ball of rock.
- Has at least 95 known moons, including Europa and Ganymede with subsurface oceans.
System
- Discovered
- known since antiquity
- Star
- Sun · G2 V · 5,772 K · 1 M☉
- System
- 8 known planets
Orbit in the Solar System
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | 88 d | 0.387 AU | 0.38 R⊕ | 0.055 M⊕ | 440 K |
| Venus | 224.7 d | 0.723 AU | 0.95 R⊕ | 0.82 M⊕ | 737 K |
| Earth | 365.2 d | 1 AU | 1 R⊕ | 1 M⊕ | 288 K |
| Mars | 687 d | 1.52 AU | 0.53 R⊕ | 0.11 M⊕ | 208 K |
| Ceres | 4.6 yr | 2.77 AU | 0.07 R⊕ | 0.94 ×10²¹ kg | — |
| Jupiter | 11.9 yr | 5.2 AU | 1 R♃ | 1 M♃ | 163 K |
| Saturn | 29.4 yr | 9.57 AU | 0.84 R♃ | 95.11 M⊕ | 133 K |
| Uranus | 83.7 yr | 19.16 AU | 0.36 R♃ | 14.53 M⊕ | 78 K |
| Neptune | 163.7 yr | 30.18 AU | 3.88 R⊕ | 17.08 M⊕ | 73 K |
| Pluto | 247.9 yr | 39.48 AU | 0.19 R⊕ | 13 ×10²¹ kg | 48 K |
| Haumea | 282 yr | 43.1 AU | 0.12 R⊕ | — | 50 K |
| Makemake | 306.6 yr | 45.6 AU | 0.11 R⊕ | 3.1 ×10²¹ kg | — |
| Eris | 561.3 yr | 67.9 AU | 0.18 R⊕ | 17 ×10²¹ kg | 43 K |
| Sedna | 12,676.2 yr | 544 AU | 0.08 R⊕ | — | 12 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1 R♃11.2 R⊕
- Mass
- 1 M♃318 M⊕
- Orbital period
- 11.9 yr
- Distance from Sun
- 5.2 AU779 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0.049nearly circular
- Mean temperature
- -110 °C163 K
- Gravity
- 23.1 m/s²2.36 g
- Day length
- 9.9 h0.4 Earth days
- Moons
- 95with a ring system
- Density
- 1.33 g/cm³
- Axial tilt
- 3.1°
Sources
Image: NASA/STSCI (S.T.A.R.S), Public domain · Public domain · image page
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Taglines and highlights are editorial.