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KidZone Science
Jupiter Facts

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, but it spins very quickly on its axis. A day on Jupiter lasts only 9 hours and 55 minutes. Ack, I get dizzy just thinking about it!
Jupiter is so big that you could fit all the other planets in the solar system inside it.

source: NASA - Cassini
Jupiter Fast Facts
Distance from Sun
Approximately 466 million miles
Number of Moons
62 moons have been identified
Ganymede is the largest moon -- it is bigger
than both Mercury and Pluto
Diameter
85,788 miles
the largest planet -- more than 12 Earths could line up across
it!
scientists use the planet's gravity to accelerate spacecraft so they can reach Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
Composition
a giant ball of mostly hydrogen and helium
Length of Day
9 hours, 55 minutes in Earth time (the length of one rotation)
Length of a Year
12 Earth years (the length of one orbit around the sun)
Name
named for the king of the Roman gods.
Visited by
Pioneer 11, Viking, Galileo, Cassini and others

source: NASA - Voyager
Jupiter's Spot
The red spot of Jupiter is the biggest, most violent storm in the known universe -- that spot is at least three times the size of earth!

source: This
mosaic of Jupiter's ring system
was acquired by NASA's Galileo spacecraft
when the Sun was behind the planet, and the
spacecraft was in Jupiter's
shadow peering
back toward the Sun.
Rings on Jupiter?
When Voyager visited the outer planets of the solar system we discovered that all of the gaseous planets have rings.
Jupiter's rings are much thinner and therefore less visible than Saturn's but they're there! Even up close and personal, the spacecraft needed to be at just the right angle to spot the rings.