Interesting Facts About Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth closest planet to the Sun. The distance from Jupiter to the Sun is over 483 million miles. Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and has a diameter of 88,700 miles. It is made up of layers and layers of gases which is why it is called a gas planet. These gases are made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn, Neptune and Uranus are also gas planets.
Jupiter has 79 moons. The four main moons are the size of planets. They are called Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They were first seen by the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei in January 1610.
Jupiter is named after the ancient Roman sky-god, Jupiter, known to the Greeks as Zeus.
On 5th August 2011, Juno, an unmanned spacecraft, was sent on a mission to Jupiter to learn more.
