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The Largest Planet

Jupiter is the largest planet (twice as massive as all the other planets combined) in our solar system and is a gas giant. The planet is 5.2 AU away from the sun and a year on Jupiter is 11.86 Earth years. Jupiter is a named after the King Roman God and has the most amount of moons out of any planet in our solar system, 79! 

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Jupiter Facts

  • The famous giant red spot on Jupiter is actually a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged on for hundreds of years

  • The beautiful stripes and swirls that are on Jupiter are giant cold clouds of water and ammonia 

  • There is one spacecraft currently exploring Jupiter and that is NASA's Juno orbiter

  • A day on Jupiter is 10 hours and a year is about 12 Earth years

  • Jupiter is so massive that 11 Earths could fit across its equator and is 317 times greater in mass.

  • Jupiter has very faint rings made up of dust that were discovered in 1979 by Voyager

  • Jupiter is a gas giant and so even if it had a rocky center it would only be the size of Earth 

  • Jupiter's atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium 

  • Jupiter’s four largest moons (the Galilean Satellites) are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

  • Jupiter has the largest ocean in the solar system and it is made up of liquid hydrogen

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