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ABOUT JUPITER
Jupiter is the largest of the planets in the solar system. Made of hydrogen and helium, Jupiter is the largest of four 'gas giant' planets in the outer solar system. Jupiter's spectacular storms include the Great Red Spot, a 300-year old hurricane, and a more recent discovery, another massive colliding storm known as Red Spot Jr.
Read More About Jupiter >>
Featured Mission: Galileo
Jupiter is the largest of the planets in the solar system. A huge gaseous sphere of mostly hydrogen and helium, Jupiter
is the largest of four 'gas giant' planets that dominate the outer solar system. Jupiter's spectacular storms include the
Great Red Spot, a more than 300-year old hurricane, and a more recent discovery, another massive colliding storm
known as Red Spot Jr.
Read More About Galileo >>
VITAL STATISTICS
Average Distance from Sun: |
778,412,020 km
(483,682,810 miles) |
Diameter: |
139,822 km
(86,881 miles) |
Volume: |
1,316 x Earth's |
Mass: |
1,898,600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
(317.8 x Earth's) |
Length of Day: |
9.9 Earth hours |
Length of Year: |
11.86 Earth years |
Known Moons: |
63 |
SIZE & DISTANCE
If the Sun was as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a nickel - and Jupiter would be about as
big as a basketball.
Average Distance from the Sun: 778,412,020 km (5.2 A.U.)
EXTREME SPACE
Jumpin' Jupiter
There are no rockets powerful enough to hurl a spacecraft into the outer solar system and beyond. In 1962,
scientists calculated how to use Jupiter's intense gravity to hurl spacecraft into the farthest regions of the solar
system. We've been traveling farther and faster ever since.
Storm of the Centuries
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a hurricane-like storm so large that almost three Earths could fit across it. Jupiter's Great
Red Spot is a hurricane-like storm that is at least 300 years old. Larger than three Earths, the Great Red Spot has
recently been joined by Red Spot Junior, a slightly smaller storm that may collide with Great Red Spot in the
future.
Mighty Moon
With a diameter of 5,262 km (3,270 miles) Jupiter's Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system - bigger even
than the planets Mercury and Pluto. If Ganymede orbited the Sun instead of Jupiter, it could easily be called a
planet.
Hail to the King
Jupiter is by far the largest of the planets. If it were hollow, more than 1,300 Earths could fit inside. The giant
planet contains two-thirds of all the planetary mass in the solar system and holds more than 60 moons in its
gravitational grip.
Planet-Sized Pizza?
Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system. Active volcanoes constantly spew material
onto Io's surface. The moon's bizarre, blotted yellowish surface looks more like a pepperoni pizza than like the
cratered surfaces of the other moons in our solar system.
The Hot Zone
Jupiter is not a people-friendly place. Radiation levels encountered by spacecraft visiting Jupiter are more than
1,000 times the lethal level for a human. Even heavily-shielded spacecraft like Galileo were damaged by the
radiation.
TIMELINE
1610 - Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovers four moons orbiting Jupiter - Io, Europa,
Ganymede and Callisto.
1973 - NASA's Pioneer 10 is the first spacecraft to reach Jupiter - flying by at a distance of 200,000
km (120,000 miles).
1979 - In flybys only four months apart, NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft discover Jupiter's faint rings,
several new moons and volcanic activity on Jovian moon Io's surface.
1994 - Astronomers watch pieces of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 collide with Jupiter - the first major
collision of two solar system objects ever observed.
1995 - NASA's Galileo spacecraft begins an extended tour of Jupiter by dropping an atmospheric
probe into the giant planet's atmosphere.
2003 - Galileo impacts Jupiter. The spacecraft was deliberately crashed to avoid any potential
contamination of Jupiter's moons, especially Europa.
SLIDE SHOW
Jupiter and Moon Io
Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Jupiter's Clouds
Jupiter's Aurora
Volcanic Explosion on Jupiter's Moon Io
Active Volcano on Jupiter's Moon Io
Jupiter's Moon Callisto
Jupiter's Moon Ganymede
Jupiter's Moon Europa
Looking Back at Jupiter
MOONS
Of Jupiter's 63 known moons, the four largest moons - the Galilean satellites - are as mysterious and intriguing
as any planet. Io is the most volcanically active world in our solar system. There is strong evidence of an ocean
under Europa's icy surface. Ganymede - bigger than Mercury and Pluto - is the largest moon in the solar system.
And Callisto's battered, icy surface may date back to earliest days of our solar system. It is believed that other
smaller moons will be discovered.
Sun
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Mercury
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Venus
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Earth & Moon
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Mars
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Jupiter
Saturn
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Uranus
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Neptune
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Pluto
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Asteroids
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Comets