Jupiter

jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System. It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth of that of the Sun, but is two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is a gas giant, along with Saturn (Uranus and Neptune are ice giants)


Diameter 142,984 km
Mass 1.900e27 kg
Temperature 165 K (-108.15 °C)

Composition Percentage
hydrogen 89.8%
helium 10.2%
methane 0.3%
ammonia 0.026%
hydrogen deuteride 0.003%
ethane 0.0006%
water 0.0004%
ammonia ices
water ices
ammonium hydrosulfide ices

The gas planets do not have solid surfaces, their gaseous material simply gets denser with depth (the radii and diameters quoted for the planets are for levels corresponding to a pressure of 1 atmosphere). What we see when looking at these planets is the tops of clouds high in their atmospheres (slightly above the 1 atmosphere level).

Jupiter has the shortest day of all the planets. It turns on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes. The rapid rotation flattens the planet slightly, giving it an oblate shape.