Fifth in line from the Sun, Jupiter is, by far,
the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice asmassive as
all the other planets combined. Jupiter's familiar stripes and swirls are
actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere
of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than
Earth that has raged for hundreds of years. Jupiter orbits about 484 million miles 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 has more than 75 moons.