1. The sun: Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. Its distance to the sun is approximately 778 million km
2. Day: 1 day on Jupiter (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate once around itself) lasts 10 hours. These short days make Jupiter the fastest rotating (around itself – not the sun) planet in the solar system
3. Year: 1 year on Jupiter (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate once around the sun) equals 12 years here on Earth
4. Surface: Jupiter is a gas planet (gas giant) and therefore has no solid surface. Experts believe that Jupiter has a solid core the size of the Earth – however, this is not a fact
5. Clouds: Jupiter is covered in ammonia-laden clouds that have long, stretched-out shapes. This is due to the planet’s rapid rotation, which creates jet streams that pull the clouds in long ribbons across the planet
6. Atmosphere: Jupiter’s atmosphere consists primarily of hydrogen and helium. In the upper part of the atmosphere, winds blow at over 640 km/h (178 m/s). For reference, a hurricane on Earth is defined as a wind speed of over 120 km/h (32 m/s) and the fastest wind speed ever measured is 408 km/h (113 m/s) here on Earth
7. Magnetic field: Jupiter’s magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s and the strongest in the solar system. The radiation in the magnetic field is over 1,000 times the fatal level for humans
8. Rings: Jupiter has a system of rings that were discovered on the Voyager 2 mission in 1979. The rings are hard to see from Earth and are made up of small, dark particles
9. Biggest ocean: The largest ocean in the solar system is found on Jupiter; however, this ocean is made of helium instead of water
10. Name: The name Jupiter comes from Roman mythology, where Jupiter was the king of all gods and therefore the most powerful. Jupiter was originally the god of the sky and also the god of lightning and thunder

Fact: Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and can hold 1,300 Earths

More facts about Jupiter

• Liv: Jupiter cannot harbor life (at least not life as we know it). However, some of Jupiter’s moons have subsurface oceans that could possibly harbor life
• Size: Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in the solar system; it contains over twice as much material as all the other planets and moons in the solar system combined. Jupiter’s volume is so large that it can hold 1300 Earths
• The big red spot: The ‘Great Red Spot’ on Jupiter is a gigantic storm 2-3 times the size of Earth that has been raging for hundreds of years (it has been observed from Earth for more than 300 years). In the middle of the storm, the wind is blowing at about 360 km/h (100 m/s). Later on, the ‘Little Red Spot’ – a storm about half the size – has emerged
• Moons: Jupiter has 50 known moons and another 17 that are still considered “unknown”. This is because the moons must first be approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) before it is considered to be one of Jupiter’s moons. So far, humans have sent several spacecraft to Jupiter and its many moons