Click and drag to rotate the planet!
Source: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)
Harvey's friends at NASA are very excited to teach him about the next planet in our solar system, Jupiter! Their spacecraft called Juno is orbiting Jupiter right now, gathering all kinds of information about this giant planet.
Here are some cool things to know about Jupiter:
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun, between Mars and Saturn in our solar system.
Jupiter is the largest planet by far! If you drew a line across the middle of Jupiter, it would be about the same distance as 11 Earths lined up side by side. Jupiter is more than twice as big as all the other planets put together!
Jupiter's days are shorter than Earth's days. It rotates on its axis once every 10 hours, making its days only about 10 Earth hours long. But it takes Jupiter about 12 Earth years to orbit the sun, making a year on Jupiter equal to 12 years on Earth.
Jupiter is a gas planet, which means it doesn't have a solid surface like the earth does. It would be impossible to land a spacecraft there!
Jupiter's atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium. It is not able to support life.
Jupiter has more than 75 moons! It also has rings, but they aren't easy to see because they're mostly made up of dust.
Jupiter's colorful stripes and swirls are clouds floating in the atmosphere. The clouds are cold, windy, and made up of ammonia and water.
The big red spot you can see in pictures of Jupiter is a huge storm! It's bigger than Earth and has been there for more than 100 years.
Hubble Telescope Image of Jupiter
Source: NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).