Jupiter
(more details below)
Size & Distance
* This is bar far the largest planet in our solar system – so massive that all our other planets combined can fit into Jupiter.
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* With a diameter of 86,880 miles, Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth.
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* With an average distance of 484 million miles, away from the Sun.
* It takes Sunlight 43 minutes to travel from the Sun to Jupiter.
Geology
* Jupiter is similar to that of the Sun—mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a liquid. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the solar system—an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water.
* Scientists think that, at depths perhaps halfway to the planet's center, the pressure becomes so great that electrons are squeezed off the hydrogen atoms, making the liquid electrically conducting like metal.
* It is still unclear if, deeper down, Jupiter has a central core of solid material or if it may be a thick, super-hot and dense soup. It could be up to 90,032 degrees Fahrenheit (50,000 degrees Celsius) down there, made mostly of iron and silicate minerals (similar to quartz).
Atmosphere / Weather
* Jupiter's stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water.
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* Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.
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Orbit & Rotation
* Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. One day on Jupiter takes only about 10 hours (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate or spin around once).
* Jupiter makes a complete orbit around the Sun in about 12 Earth years (4,333 Earth days).
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* Its equator is tilted with respect to its orbital path around the Sun by just 3 degrees. This means Jupiter spins nearly upright and does not have seasons as extreme as other planets do.
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* Jupiter's fast rotation is thought to drive electrical currents in this region, generating the planet's powerful magnetic field.