What is Jupiter?

Jupiter is the largest and fastest rotating planet among the eight planets in the solar system, and the fifth planet from the inside out. Its mass is one thousandth of that of the sun and 2.5 times that of the other seven planets in the solar system combined.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all gas planets, so they are also collectively called woody planets (Jupiter and Saturn are collectively called giant planets). Jupiter is a giant gas planet, mainly composed of hydrogen, followed by helium, accounting for 25% of the total mass, and 70% of all planets in the rock core of the solar system contain other heavy elements.

Gaseous planets have no solid surface, and the density of their gaseous substances increases with the increase of depth. What humans usually see is the cloud top in the atmosphere, and the air pressure is slightly higher than 1 atmospheric pressure.

Jupiter is a flat sphere (with a slight but obvious bulge near the equator) because it rotates very fast. The outer atmosphere is obviously divided into several regions according to latitude, and turbulence and storms are easy to appear at the edge of regional connection.

The most prominent example is the Great Red Spot, which was first discovered by telescope in the17th century. Surrounding this planet is a loose planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere. Jupiter has at least 69 moons.

In 20 17, astronomers discovered two new Jupiter satellites, increasing the number of known satellites of this gas giant planet to 69.

In 20 18, American scientists discovered 12 new Jupiter satellites, which brought the total number of known Jupiter satellites to 79.