Wednesday, March 7, 2007

The Jupiter


Jupiter is by far the largest planet within our Solar System: two and a half times larger than all of the other planets put together. It is the fifth planet from the Sun and one of the brightest planets. Jupiter is sometimes called a "gas giant" because most of this planet is made up of liquid and gas.
How big is the planet?
Jupiter is 142,984 km or about 11 Earths in diameter at the equator. That makes it about one tenth as big as the Sun! You could fit about 1,400 Earths into the volume of Jupiter. It is 133,709 km or 10 Earths in diameter from pole to pole. Jupiter's rapid rotation makes it bulge out at the equator.
Jupiter's magnetic field is the largest single planetary thing in the Solar System. It is 26 million kilometers across, making it about 20 times bigger than the Sun. It has a tail that extends past Saturn's orbit. If it could be seen from Earth, it would appear to be five times the size of the full moon.

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