upiter is the fifth planet from our Sun and is, by far the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined. The Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years. A 3D model of Jupiter, a gas giant planet
Jupiter’s environment is probably not conducive to life as we know it.
The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.
- While planet Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things to take hold, the same is not true of its many moons.
- Europa is one of the likeliest places to find life elsewhere in our solar system.
Quick Facts about Jupiter
Planet type: Gas Giant
- Number of moons: 53 confirmed & 26 provisional
- Diameter: 88,846 miles (142,984 kilometers)
- Length of year: 11.86 Earth years
- Distance from Sun: 5.1 Astronomical Units
- Volume: 1,321
- Mass: 318
- Surface temperature: -160 degrees Fahrenheit (-110 degrees Celsius)
Jupiter’s moons and rings
Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and Io are some of the most fascinating destinations in our solar system.
- Jupiter took shape when the rest of the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to form this gas giant
- The composition of Jupiter is similar to that of the Sun – mostly hydrogen and helium
- Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing hydrogen gas into a liquid
- Stormy Jupiter is swept by over a dozen prevailing winds, reaching up to 335 miles per hour (539 kilometers per hour) at the equator
Magnetosphere
The Jovian magnetosphere is the region of space influenced by Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field.
- It balloons 600,000 to 2 million miles (1 to 3 million kilometers) toward the Sun (seven to 21 times the diameter of Jupiter itself) and tapers into a tadpole-shaped tail extending more than 600 million miles behind Jupiter, as far as Saturn’s orbit.
