8 Planets: Jupiter

5. JUPITER: THE JOVIAN GAS GIANT

✪ Jupiter is the giant of the Solar System, with a mass more than 300 times the mass of the Earth.

✪ Jupiter is the fifth planet in order from the Sun and is about 777 million km or  483 million miles from the Sun.

JUPITER PROFILE
Mass	1.90 x 1027 kg
Diameter	142,800 km
Mean density	1314 kg/m3
Escape velocity	59500 m/s  (59.5 km/s)
Average distance from Sun	5.203 AU (778,412,020 km)
Rotation period (length of day in Earth days)	0.41 (9.8 Earth hours)
Revolution period (length of year in Earth days)	11.86
Obliquity (tilt of axis degrees)	3.08
Mean surface temperature	120 K (cloud tops)
Visual geometric albedo (reflectivity)	0.15
Atmospheric components	90% hydrogen, 10% helium and 0.07% methane
Rings	Faint ring. Infrared spectra imply dark rock fragments.
Credits: NASA Planet Profiles

✪ Jupiter is called after the ancient Roman sky-god, Jupiter, known to the Greeks as Zeus.