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Jupiter

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A stunning view of the planet Jupiter, showing its bright auroras, faint rings, and two small moons, as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

A Giant in Our Sky

Jupiter is a amazing giant planet in our Solar System. It is the biggest planet and fifth from the Sun. Jupiter is called a gas giant because it is made mostly of gas, like hydrogen and helium.

What Makes Jupiter Special

Jupiter is very big—about eleven times wider than Earth! You can see Jupiter with your eyes at night. It shines very brightly, third only to the Sun, the Moon, and Venus. People have seen Jupiter since prehistoric times.

Jupiter's Clouds and Storms

Jupiter has beautiful, colorful clouds. One famous feature is the Great Red Spot, a huge storm bigger than Earth! This storm has been spinning for many years. Jupiter spins very fast, finishing a full turn in less than ten hours.

Moons and Rings

Jupiter has at least 115 moons. Its four largest moons are called the Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. These can sometimes be seen with binoculars. Jupiter also has faint planetary rings, made of tiny bits of dust.

Visiting Jupiter

Since 1973, robotic probes have visited Jupiter to learn more. These space machines take pictures and collect information about this wonderful planet. Jupiter helps protect our Solar System because its strong gravity influences many things around it.

Images

A colorful photo of the planet Jupiter taken by the Cassini space probe, showing its swirling clouds and atmosphere.
A helpful diagram comparing the sizes of Earth, the Moon, and the planet Jupiter.
A colorful image of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a massive storm, taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft from space.
A colorful diagram showing how Jupiter's magnetic field interacts with its moons, including Europa and Io.
A view of the planet Jupiter and four of its largest moons captured through a telescope.
Historical scientific drawings by Galileo showing Jupiter and its moons, the Medicean Stars, from his famous work Sidereus Nuncius.
An animated view of Jupiter captured by the Voyager 1 probe, showing the movement of clouds and the Great Red Spot over time.
A time-lapse animation showing the planet Jupiter and its moon Ganymede rotating in space, captured using a telescope.
An old woodcut illustration of the planet Jupiter from a 16th-century astronomy book.

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Jupiter, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.