Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun.  It is the largest planet in our solar system.  It is composed mostly of Helium and Hydrogen.  It is like a little sun except that it will not burn.

Jupiter is 483,600,000 miles away from the sun.  It has a diameter of 88,850 miles.  Jupiter is the third brightest object in the nighttime sky.  It is very easy to see.  If you use binoculars, you can see some of its moons, use a telescope and you may be able to see the Great Red Spot!

Jupiter's Giant Red Spot is a huge storm that is in its southern hemisphere.  It is like a huge hurricane.  The colors of the storm are really pink to orange.  It is about 17,000 miles long and 9,000 miles wide.  It is the biggest storm in our solar system.  Would you believe that 3 Earths could fit in it?

Jupiter has rings.  The rings are very dark.  They are made up of rocks and dust and do not contain any ice.

A day on Jupiter lasts only 9.8 hours!  That is really short!  However, it takes 11.86 Earth years to equal one year on Jupiter! Can you imagine a planet with such short days and long years?

Jupiter was named after the Greek king of the gods, the ruler of Olympus.

Jupiter has 40 known moons!  There are four large moons.  Io is a large moon that has active volcanoes.  It is the third largest moon of Jupiter.  Its volcanoes spew out sulfur which makes it the most colorful moon in our solar system.  The moon Europa is covered with water ice.  It has the smoothest surface in our solar system.  One of the smaller moons, Amalthea, is the third closest moon to Jupiter.  It is the reddest object in our solar system!  Jupiter has a lot of unique moons!

This is what the symbol for the planet Jupiter looks like: