Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest in the solar system — more massive than all the other planets combined. This gas giant has no solid surface, just swirling bands of clouds above a deep atmosphere, and is famous for its centuries-old storm, the Great Red Spot.
| Distance from Sun | 484 million miles (778 million km) — 5.2 AU |
| Diameter | 86,881 miles (139,822 km) |
| Length of day | 9.9 hours (the shortest of any planet) |
| Length of year | about 12 Earth years (4,333 Earth days) |
| Moons | 95 known moons |
| Atmosphere | Mostly hydrogen and helium |
Interesting facts
- Jupiter is so large that about 1,000 Earths could fit inside it.
- Its Great Red Spot is a giant storm, wider than Earth, that has been raging for centuries.
- Jupiter has the shortest day of any planet, spinning all the way around in under 10 hours.
- Its four largest moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto — were first spotted by Galileo Galilei in 1610 and are known as the Galilean moons.
- NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016 after a journey of 1.7 billion miles.
- Jupiter’s magnetic field is 16 to 54 times as powerful as Earth’s — the strongest of any planet.