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  • Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System and the largest of the four Gas Giants.
  • Jupiter is visible to the naked eye and has been known since ancient times.
  • The 4 gas giants are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These 4 planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian or outer planets.
  • Jupiter is not a terrestrial planet.
  • Jupiter is the 5th planet from the Sun, sitting between Mars and Saturn.
  • Jupiter is so large that if it were hollow over 1300 planets the size of Earth would fit inside.
  • It would take 10 Earth's lined up side by side to span the width of Jupiter.
  • It would take 10 Jupiter's lined up side by side to span the width of the Sun.
  • If the Sun were hollow you could fit roughly 920 planets the size of Jupiter would fit inside.
  • Even though it is made up almost entirely of gas Jupiter is truly a massive planet. The mass of Jupiter is 2.5 times greater than the mass of the rest of the planets combined!
  • The Earth's gravity is measured as 1 unit of gravity. The gravity on all other planets is taken as a multiple of Earth's.
  • Jupiter's gravity is 2.64 or 2.64 times that of Earth. Next to the Sun, Jupiter has the most significant gravitational influence in our Solar System.
  • A 100 lb person on Earth would weigh 264 lbs on Jupiter.
  • A day on Jupiter is just under 10 hours. This is the shortest day in the Solar System.
  • A year on Jupiter is almost 12 Earth years long.
  • The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 1 AU and is used to measure distance in our Solar System. Jupiter is 5.2 AU from the Sun.
  • It takes the light from the Sun a little over 43 minutes to reach Jupiter.
  • Because Jupiter is made of gas and spins very quickly it bulges at its equator.
  • Jupiter rotates in a counterclockwise motion or from West to East, same as the Earth. If you could stand on Jupiter's clouds, the Sun would rise in the East and set in the West, same as on Earth.
  • Jupiter is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, the same as our Sun.
  • Jupiter has at least 67 moons, more than any other planet in our Solar System. Most of these moons are very small but the moon Ganymede is the largest moon in our Solar System.
  • Jupiter has a thin set of rings, like Saturn, but they are not very visible from Earth, even with a telescope. In fact they were unknown until NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft discovered them in 1979.
  • Jupiter's rings are primarily composed of dust.
  • Jupiter's most visible feature is the Great Red Spot. This spot is actually a violent wind storm that has been going on for centuries and was first observed in 1644.
  • The Giant Red Spot is roughly 25,000 km across and is big enough to hold three Earths!
  • The Giant Red Spot is also called "The Eye of Jupiter".