Jupiter

Facts about Jupiter

• Jupiter is the fastest spinning planet of all eight, rotating on its orbit in a little under ten hours for one complete rotation.

• It takes twelve of Earth’s years for Jupiter to orbit the sun just one time.

• The most moons orbiting a single planet are found around Jupiter, with at least 60 moons. More are being discovered and are believed to be pulled into the orbit by the strong gravity pull rather than being created while in the system.

More interesting facts

• Jupiter is one of the windiest planets. It’s winds measure up to 300 miles per hour.

• Jupiter is a very stormy planet. The storm areas are visible in color; white spots indicate a cool storm and brown spots indicate a warm storm.

• Although lightning occurs much less frequently than on Earth, it is much more powerful on Jupiter.

The Great Red Spot

• The Great Red Spot is a famous feature of Jupiter.

• The Great Red Spot moves only east or west, never north or south.

• The spot is a fierce storm which has raged for over 300 years.

• The planet Jupiter is the largest of all eight major planets within our solar system. If Jupiter were hollow, it could hold all of the other planets inside.

Even more interesting Jupiter facts

• Jupiter is a gaseous planet which is held together by a massive gravity field.

• Jupiter mainly consists of hydrogen, nitrogen, helium, methane, and water.

• Jupiter has the strongest pull of gravity among all of the planets of the Solar System.

• Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun.

• Jupiter has 16 big satellites and many other smaller satellites.

Caution!!!! Work in Progress

• Learning about Jupiter is a work in progress. Jupiter cannot be landed upon for exploration. All of the information that scientists and astronomers have gathered have come from pictures taken by flyby missions and from those taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. There is a new mission being planned for a launch in 2011. This mission has been name the Juno Mission.

To Summarize….

Jupiter is the largest of all 8 major planets

HUbble Space Telescope provides information about Jupiter

Pull of gravity is very strong

WInds measuring up to 300 miles per hour

STormy Planet

GrEat Red Spot is a fierce storm

Rotates extremely fast

Sources• www.static.howstuffworks.com• www.factsaboutjupiter.net• www.tritofun.org• www.kidscosmos.org• www.factsmonk.com• www.Utahskies.org

• www.eso.org• www.starteachastronomy.com• www.library.thinkquest.org• www.images.ciel.free