Most Interesting Facts about Jupiter

When I was young, remembering the names of all the planets in the right order was something that took a long time for me to register! However, there are two planets that were my favorite among all, these were, our very own planet Earth, and Jupiter. Earth because, it was the planet that I lived on, and I know that it is beautiful. I loved Jupiter because I remember my teacher telling me that Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and it has 63 moons! I still remember that line, 'Do you know how many moons does Jupiter have? 63'! "Imagine how beautiful the night would be, the sky surrounded by moons all around", I thought to myself, and ever since the urge to learn more and more about the planet has never left my mind. If you too, are mesmerized by this planet and want to learn about some of the most interesting Jupiter facts and information, then you are at the right page.

Interesting Jupiter Facts and Information

Planet Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the solar system. It is approximately 893 million to 964 million kilometers apart from our planet Earth. Jupiter also happens to be a gaseous planet, which means that it doesn't have a solid surface. It consists of 90% of hydrogen, 10% helium, and minor quantities of elements like methane, water, rock dust and ammonia. If you take a look at the planet from the outside, it appears to be a colorful and bright planet. Thanks to the spacecraft visits from the earth to the planet Jupiter, we have loads of pictures of the planet to see how it exactly looks. NASA has made about 7 spacecraft visits to the planet. The first visit was done in December 1973 by Pioneer 10. Let us see what have we found out about the planet through all these efforts by going through these interesting facts about Jupiter mentioned below.

• Jupiter is a massive planet. You would be amazed to know that it is 318 times bigger than our planet earth and has a total mass of 1.9 x 1027 kg.
• The equatorial diameter of planet Jupiter is 88,846 miles. Whereas the Earth's equatorial diameter is just 7,926 miles.
• Jupiter also has a very strong magnetic field. As compared to our planet, Jupiter's magnetic field is almost 14 times stronger.
• Jupiter also happens to be the fastest spinning planet of the solar system. It only takes about 10 hours to complete a single rotation on its axis, with a speed of 13.1 km/sec.
• I mentioned about the colorful gaseous patterns on the surface of planet Jupiter, right? These clouds on the planet's surface are only 50 km thick.
• Like Saturn and Uranus, even Jupiter has rings. They were discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1 and are known as the Halo ring, Main ring, Thebe gossamer ring, and the Amalthea gossamer ring.
• Jupiter also consists of the Great Red Spot, which according to studies, has been there for more than 400 years. Scientists believe that the spot has been shrinking and is almost half the size now as compared to the size it had when it was first discovered by Giovanni Cassini in 1665.
• Jupiter is at an average distance of 483,631,840 miles from the Sun.
• The surface temperature of Jupiter is approximately 152 Kelvin, however if you go deep to its core, the temperature can be as high as 20,000 Kelvin. Pretty hot, isn't it?

Fun Facts about Jupiter

We have gone through some serious scientific Jupiter facts so far. Now let us learn some more about the planet in a more fun way. Read through the fun facts about Jupiter mentioned below.

• Although Jupiter is extremely big and massive, the funny part is that scientists believe, that if it grows bigger, it will actually start shrinking. This is because the additional mass would actually make the planet pulling it on itself due to the increased density.
• Jupiter is also known as a failed star. Though Jupiter is huge, it needs to have 70 times more than its current mass to become a star.
• Out of the 63 moons and satellites that Jupiter has, 4 are the largest moons which are named as Io, Callisto, Europa and Ganymede.
• Another interesting fact about Jupiter is that 11.9 years on Earth are equivalent to 1 year on Jupiter. Similarly, one day on Jupiter is equivalent to 9.8 hours on Earth.
• Jupiter is also known as Jove. You would be surprised to know that not only the planet Jupiter is named after the Roman God, but its satellites and moons are also named after the daughters and lovers of the Roman God.
• Another fun fact about the planet Jupiter is that your weight would increase over there. This means that if you weigh about 100 pounds on earth, then your weight would become 234 pounds on Jupiter. All you need is to multiply your weight by 2.34.

After going through these facts, don't you feel like visiting the planet and exploring all these facts in person. I am sure there are a lot of kids who wish to become an astronaut one day and witness all these facts with their own eyes. Thanks to technology, we will be supplied some more interesting Jupiter facts and findings in the near future. So what do you think is the most amazing thing about planet Jupiter?