Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet. It appears brighter than any other planet apart from Venus; at times it may even cast a shadow. Some of its surface features, and the four brightest satellites, can easily be seen in a telescope, or even in binoculars. Jupiter’s mass is more than twice that of all the other planets put together, and it is determined by observing the periods of Jupiter’s satellites and the sizes of their orbits and applying Newton’s Law of Gravitation to the data. It is not essential to use observations of a natural satellite; similar calculations can be performed for any body that passes near the Planet. Jupiter has a mass 317.89 times that of the Earth. However, although, Jupiter is such a massive planet we should note that it is still much smaller than the Sun, whose mass is 1047 times greater.

Jupiter is noticeably flattened. Its equatorial radius is 71,600 km, which is 11.23 times that of the Earth, whereas the polar radius is 67,300 km, about six percent smaller. The volume of Jupiter is therefore 1330 times that of the Earth.

Jupiter Details

Reciprocal Mass: 1047.357
Equatorial Radius (km): 71,600
Angular diameter at mean opposition: 46.86

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