SPACETWINNING, eTwinning project
5. JUPITER
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It is approximately
143,000 kilometers wide at its equator. Jupiter is so large that all of
the other planets in the solar system could fit inside it. More than
1,300 Earths would fit inside Jupiter.
Jupiter is like a star in composition. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the
sun. Jupiter's average distance from the sun is 5.2 astronomical units.
This distance is a little more than five times the distance from Earth to
the sun. When viewed from Earth, Jupiter is usually the second
brightest planet in the night sky, after Venus. The planet is named
after Jupiter, the king of the Roman gods in mythology.
Jupiter is called a gas giant planet. Its atmosphere is made up of
mostly hydrogen gas and helium gas, like the sun. The planet is
covered in thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds. The clouds
make the planet look like it has stripes.
13