Skip to main content
Global Edition
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Jupiter

Fifth planet from the Sun


Jupiter
Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, and slightly less than one one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm) with an orbital period of 11.86 years. Jupiter is the third brightest natural object in the Earth's night sky after the Moon and Venus, and it has been observed since prehistoric times. It was named after Jupiter, the chief deity of ancient Roman religion.

1 shares 4 views

News coverage

Hubble Tracks Jupiter’s Stormy Weather

The giant planet Jupiter, in all its banded glory, is revisited by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in these latest images, taken on..

Eurasia Review

You might like