Planet Jupiter Facts

1. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system with a mean diameter of 139,822 km (86,881 miles).

2. Jupiter’s mass is 318 times larger than Earth. The diameter is 11 times, volume is 1,321 times, and surface area is 122 times of Earth.

3. The orbital speed of Jupiter is 13.1 km/sec.

4. A year on Jupiter is equal to 11.9 Earth Years.

5. A day on Jupiter is equal to 9.8 Earth Hours.

6. Jupiter, sometimes called Jove, was the King of the gods in Roman mythology and the son of Saturn.

7. Jupiter’s maximum distance from the Sun = 817 million km (508 million miles).

8. Jupiter’s minimum distance from Earth = 588 million km (365 million miles).

9. Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter in December 1973. Pioneer 10 just did a flyby.

10. Jupiter has sixty three moons or satellites, eight are regular and 55 irregular.

11. Jupiter’s four largest moons are named: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

12. Voyager 1 provided the earliest and clearest photographs of Jupiter on January of 1979.

13. Jupiter has rings, the third planet discovered to have a ring system in our Solar System.

14. Jupiter’s rings are identified as: Halo ring, Main ring, Amalthea gossamer ring, and Thebe gossamer ring.

15. Jupiter’s rings were discovered by Voyager 1 in 1979.

16. If you weigh 100 lbs, your weight on Jupiter would be 236 lbs. (multiply your actual
weight by 2.36).

17. The volume of Jupiter is great enough to hold 1,300 Earths.

18. The rotation of Jupiter is the fastest of any planet in the Solar System, making its days only 10 hours long.

19. The large red spot on Jupiter is actually from a storm that has lasted over 300 years.

20. Jupiter’s largest moon is the biggest in the Solar System. Named Ganymede, it is larger than the planet Mercury.

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