Overview | Jupiter Solar System Exploration: NASA Science

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Nov. 30, 2018: This series of images from NASA's Juno spacecraft captures changing cloud formations across Jupiter's southern hemisphere. A cloud in the shape of a dolphin appears to be swimming through the cloud bands along the South South Temperate Belt.

This sequence of images was taken between 2:26 p.m. and 2:46 p.m. PDT (5:26 p.m. and 5:56 p.m. EDT) on Oct. 29, 2018, as the spacecraft performed its 16th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno's altitude ranged from about 11,400 to 31,700 miles (18,400 to 51,000 kilometers) from the planet's cloud tops, at approximately 32 to 59 degrees south latitude.

Citizen scientists Brian Swift and Sen Doran created this image using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager.

The fifth planet from the Sun, and the most massive in our solar system, Jupiter has a long history surprising scientistsall the way back to 1610 when Galileo Galilei found the first moons beyond Earth. That discovery changed the way we see the universe. Explore Jupiter

Ten Things to Know About Jupiter

10 Things to Know About Jupiter

Eleven Earths could fit across Jupiters equator. If Earth were the size of a grape, Jupiter would be the size of a basketball.

Jupiter orbits about 484 million miles (778 million kilometers) or 5.2 Astronomical Units (AU) from our Sun (Earth is one AU from the Sun).

Jupiter rotates once about every 10 hours (a Jovian day), but takes about 12 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun (a Jovian year).

Jupiter's Bands of Clouds

Jupiter is a gas giant and so lacks an Earth-like surface. If it has a solid inner core at all, its likely only about the size of Earth.

Jupiter's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He).

Jupiter has more than 75 moons.

In 1979 the Voyager mission discovered Jupiters faint ring system. All four giant planets in our solar system have ring systems.

Nine spacecraft have visited Jupiter. Seven flew by and two have orbited the gas giant. Juno, the most recent, arrived at Jupiter in 2016.

Jupiter cannot support life as we know it. But some of Jupiter's moons have oceans beneath their crusts that might support life.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm thats about twice the size of Earth and has raged for over a century.

Juno's Eighth Close Approach to Jupiter

Did You Know

There are no rockets powerful enough to hurl a spacecraft into the outer solar system and beyond. In 1962, scientists calculated how to use Jupiter's intense gravity to hurl spacecraft into the farthest regions of the solar system. We've been traveling farther and faster ever since.

Pop Culture

The biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter also has a large presence in pop culture, including many movies, TV shows, video games and comics. Jupiter was a notable destination in the Wachowski siblings science fiction spectacle Jupiter Ascending, while various Jovian moons provide settings for Cloud Atlas, Futurama, Power Rangers, and Halo, among many others. In Men in Black when Agent Jplayed by Will Smithmentions he thought one of his childhood teachers was from Venus, Agent Kplayed by Tommy Lee Jonesreplies that she is actually from one of Jupiters moons.

Kid-Friendly Jupiter

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It's similar to a star, but it never got big enough to start burning.

Jupiter is covered in swirling cloud stripes. It has big storms like the Great Red Spot, which has been going for hundreds of years.

Jupiter is a gas giant and doesn't have a solid surface, but it may have a solid inner core about the size of Earth. Jupiter also has rings, but they're too faint to see very well.

Visit NASA Space Place for more kid-friendly facts.

Resources

Galileo Spacecraft Model

Galileo was the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter.

Pioneer 10 was first through the asteroid belt and first to Jupiter.

With a few materials and a few steps, you can build your own glasses to view 3D images.

You can create your own red/blue 3D images to print, or look at on a computer screen, using a normal digital camera and some image processing software.