Jupiter

Jupiter is a planet in the solar system and is the 5th closest planet to the sun. The distance from the sun to Jupiter is over 483 million miles. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.

Jupiter is so big, that it is over twice the size of all the other planets in the solar system put together, it’s a massive 89,000 miles wide. Jupiter is one of the four planets in the solar system that is a gas planet.

These gas planets are called ‘Jovian Planets’ Jupiter is made up of layers and layers of gas, which is why it’s a gas planet.

Jupiter does have some sort of a surface near its core; however it is impossible to see and explore at this time. The planets gases are made of mostly Hydrogen and Helium, along with other gases.

It’s not known exactly when Jupiter was discovered and by whom as Jupiter has been known for a very long time, and is one of the planets that can be seen from Earth without a telescope.

The famous Astronomer Galileo however could be credited with further discovering Jupiter as he did discover the four main moons.

The temperature on Jupiter is around -230 degrees which is very cold because Jupiter is very away from the heat of the sun.

It takes Jupiter 12 Earth years to orbit the sun, which is a very long time, however as Jupiter orbits very slow around the sun compared to Earth, it rotates very fast. 1 day on Jupiter last for about 10 hours, compared to Earths 24 hours.

Kids Fun Facts Corner

# 1. Jupiter was the first Planet created in the Solar System.

# 2. Jupiter has 4 main moons, known as Galilean Moons, as they were discovered by the famous Astronomer Galileo.

# 3. Jupiter has 67 Moons in total.

# 4. Jupiter has 4 rings.

# 5. The Earth would fit into Jupiter more than 1,000 times.

Q&A Corner

Q. What is the distance from the sun to Jupiter?

Q. How many miles wide is Jupiter?

Q. How many years does it take Jupiter to orbit the sun?

Download questions about Jupiter here: Jupiter (answers are on this page)

Teachers. For more in depth work sheets on Jupiter. Click on Kidskonnect Worksheets

For further reading and more information on Jupiter visit http://www.planetsforkids.org