What is the planet Jupiter and what are some of the info about it?

Answer 1

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest planet in the solar system. More than 1,000 Earths would fit inside Jupiter. When viewed from Earth, Jupiter appears brighter than most stars. Among the planets, only Venus is brighter. Jupiter is named after the king of the Roman gods.

Jupiter is a giant ball of gas and liquid. It has little or no solid surface. Instead, the planet's surface is made of thick red, brown, yellow, and white clouds. The clouds have dark and light-colored areas. These areas circle the planet and give it a striped appearance.

Jupiter's most outstanding surface feature is the Great Red Spot, a swirling mass of gas. It looks like a TV weather display of a hurricane. The color of the Great Red Spot varies from brick-red to brownish. Jupiter has three thin rings around its middle. They seem to be made mostly of dust particles.Picture

Jupiter in the solar system

Jupiter rotates, or spins, faster than any other planet. Jupiter's day-that is, the time it takes to spin around once-is only about 10 hours long. By comparison, Earth's day is 24 hours long. Jupiter takes about 12 years to travel once around the sun, while Earth takes one year.

Jupiter has at least 63 satellites, or moons, that rotate around it the way our moon rotates around Earth. Scientists have discovered volcanoes on the moon called Io. They believe the moon called Europa contains water. The Galileo spacecraft orbited Jupiter in December 1995. The Cassini spacecraft, designed to study Saturn, flew by Jupiter in December 2000. The two crafts helped astronomers study the planet's moons, atmosphere, and weather from two locations.