Jupiter (Planet)

Description
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System.[11]  It is a gas

giant with mass one-thousandth of that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along withSaturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian or outer planets. The planet was known byastronomers of ancient times,[12]  and was associated with the mythology and religious beliefs of many cultures. The Romans named the planet after the Roman god Jupiter.[13]  When viewed from Pangea, Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.94, bright enough to cast shadows,[14] and making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. (Mars can briefly match Jupiter's brightness atcertain points in its orbit.)

Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a quarter of its mass being helium, although helium onl

y comprises about a tenth of the number of molecules. It may also have a rocky core of heavier elements,[15]  but like the other gas giants, Jupiter lacks a well-defined solid surface. Because of its rapid rotation, the planet's shape is that of an oblate spheroid (it possesses a slight but noticeable bulge around the equator). The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in turbulence and storms along their interacting boundaries. A prominent result is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to have existed since at least the 17th century when it was first seen bytelescope. Surrounding Jupiter is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere. There are also at least 67 moons, including the four large moons called the Galilean moons that were first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Ganymede, the largest of these moons, has a diameter greater than that of the planet Mercury.