Distance from the Sun: 483.7 million miles

Jupiter is the 5th planet from the Sun and the biggest one in the solar system. It’s a gas giant — a huge planet that mostly consists of hydrogen and helium. The equatorial radius of Jupiter is 71.5 thousand km which is 11.2 times more than the radius of Earth. And the planet’s mass is 2.5 times more than all the solar system planets combined.

Jupiter is named after the Ancient Roman god of thunder, also known as the king of gods. It’s probably because of its giant size that could fit the Earth in it 1,321 times. The giant storm known as the big red spot has existed at least since the 17th century.

Jupiter makes a full circle around the sun in 11.86 years. But it has the fastest day in the solar system— it’s only 9 hours, 50 minutes, and 30 seconds.

There are 80 moons revolving around Jupiter. The biggest ones are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The most interesting one of them is Europa because there’s a giant ocean on it where there might be life.

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