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Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and is the largest one in the solar system. If Jupiter were hollow, more than one thousand Earths could fit inside. It also contains more matter than all of the other planets combined. It has a mass of 1.9 x 10²⁷ kg and is 142,800 kilometers (88,736 miles) across the equator. Jupiter possesses 28 know satellites, four of which - Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io - were observed by Galileo as long ago as 1610. Another 12 satellites have been recently discovered and given provisional designators until they are officially confirmed and named. There is a ring system, but it is very faint and is totally invisible from the Earth. (The rings were discovered in

1979 by Voyager 1.) The atmosphere is very deep, perhaps comprising the whole planet, and is somewhat like the Sun. It is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of methane, ammonia, water vapor and other compounds. At great depths within Jupiter, the pressure is so great that the hydrogen atoms are broken up and the electrons are freed so that the resulting atoms consist of bare protons. This produces a state in which the hydrogen becomes metallic.

Colorful latitudinal bands, atmospheric clouds and storms illustrate Jupiter's dynamic weather systems. The cloud patterns change within hours or days. The Great Red Spot is a complex storm moving in a counter-clockwise direction. At the outer edge, material appears to rotate in four to six days; near the center, motions are small and nearly random in direction. An array of other smaller storms and eddies can be found through out the banded clouds.

Jupiter Statistics
Mass (kg)	1.900e+27
Mass (Earth = 1)	3.1794e+02
Equatorial radius (km)	71,492
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1)	1.1209e+01
Mean density (gm/cm^3)	1.33
Mean distance from the Sun (km)	778,330,000
Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1)	5.2028
Rotational period (days)	0.41354
Orbital period (days)	4332.71
Mean orbital velocity (km/sec)	13.07
Orbital eccentricity	0.0483
Tilt of axis (degrees)	3.13
Orbital inclination (degrees)	1.308
Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2)	22.88
Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec)	59.56
Visual geometric albedo	0.52
Magnitude (Vo)	-2.70
Mean cloud temperature	-121°C
Atmospheric pressure (bars)	0.7
Atmospheric composition Hydrogen Helium	90% 10%