Jupiter 2/5/2005

: Jupiter is the fifth planet (opens in a new tab) from the Sun (opens in a new tab) and the largest (opens in a new tab) planet within the Solar System (opens in a new tab). It is a gas giant (opens in a new tab) with mass (opens in a new tab) one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn (opens in a new tab), Uranus (opens in a new tab) and Neptune (opens in a new tab). Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian (opens in a new tab) or outer planets.

The planet was known by astronomers (opens in a new tab) of ancient times and was associated with the mythology and religious beliefs of many cultures. The Romans (opens in a new tab) named the planet after the Roman god (opens in a new tab) Jupiter (opens in a new tab). When viewed from Earth (opens in a new tab), Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude (opens in a new tab) of −2.94, making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky (opens in a new tab) after the Moon (opens in a new tab) and Venus (opens in a new tab). (Mars (opens in a new tab) can briefly match Jupiter’s brightness at certain points (opens in a new tab) in its orbit.)

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