Jupiter Planet Facts and Information for Kids
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Our solar system is the one with information on the sun and 9 planets revolving around it. The 9 planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Jupiter, the biggest planet of solar system also known as a giant is the fifth-placed planet from the sun.
Interesting Jupiter Facts for Kids
There is a lot about Jupiter that you will find interesting. Here is some Jupiter info for kids, mixed with some fun facts about Jupiter to widen your knowledge of the biggest planet.
- Jupiter is 318 times bigger than our planet Earth with a diameter of 1,42,750 kilometres. That’s a whole lot bigger than our planet!
- Jupiter is the fourth shining object after the Sun, Moon and Venus in the Solar System. It is so shiny that it can be seen with naked eyes from Earth.
- Jupiter has a total of 67 moons! The 4 largest moons are Lo, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, which are together called Galileo moons. In comparison, Earth has only one.
- Recently, Hubble telescope has observed Aurora (an atmospheric occurrence similar to northern lights) which is a spectacular electric blue in colour on the north pole of Jupiter.
- Unlike Earth which is round, the shape of Jupiter is oblate i.e. there is a noticeable bulge in the centre. It is quite different from the spherical formation of our planet Earth.
- Jupiter takes 11 years and 9 months to complete its revolution around the sun. This means that a year on Jupiter equals 11 years and 9 months of Earth years.
- Jupiter is the fastest rotating/spinning planet in the solar system. It completes its rotation on its axis within 10 hours, whereas, Earth takes 24 hours to rotate on its axis. So the days and nights are much shorter there. So, one day on Jupiter lasts only 10 hours.
- Jupiter also has rings around it just like planet Saturn. But the rings around Jupiter are very light and comprise various gaseous dust particles, and thus are visible only with very strong electronic telescopes.
- Due to the fast rotation of Jupiter, the atmosphere on the planet changes rapidly. There is strong cloud coverage which surrounds the planet and there are ever-raging strong storms which is also known as Jupiter’s ‘Great Red Spot’.
- Jupiter has a magnetic field that is 20 times as big as that of Earth. Magnetic fields can keep debris and solar wind from entering into the planet’s atmosphere. Which such a powerful magnetic field, Jupiter can deflect solar winds when they are almost 3 million kilometres away!
So kids, take hold of a pair of binoculars and search the night sky. The brightest shining object in the sky you are seeing is most likely planet Jupiter, and if you have a telescope, you can also get the chance to see the moons revolving around it. Jupiter is a planet of great might and beauty. We hope these facts help your kid take an interest in the glorious planet.
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