Some astronomers have argued that it doesn't even exist and may have long since disappeared. The core at Jupiter's very center inspires much debate. (A material reminiscent of the liquid mercury we find on our own planet.) Beneath that, you'll find a level whose primary component is liquid metallic hydrogen. Far below this external area, there's a layer dominated by molecular hydrogen. Since it doesn't have a hard crust, scientists define Jupiter's " surface" as the outer level at which its atmospheric pressure equals that of Earth. For its part, Jupiter's two major ingredients are hydrogen and helium, though smaller quantities of methane, ammonia and water have also been detected. Such planets lack outer crusts and as the name would suggest, they're overwhelmingly composed of gasses.
On the other hand, Jupiter is the quintessential gas giant. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are all classified as terrestrial planets, meaning that they have hard outer surfaces and mostly consist of metals or silicate rocks. Compositionally, the two worlds are totally different. Relative size isn't the only thing setting Earth and Jupiter apart. So if scientists ever detect that kind of tottering motion in a far-off star, it could mean that a Jupiter-sized planet is nearby. And here's another fun fact: Jupiter's gargantuan bulk gives the sun a slight - but noticeable - wobble. Since the planet is so big, its barycenter with the sun resides outside of the star, at a point well above the solar surface. (After all, the sun's got way more mass.)Īh, but Jupiter's a different story. Because the relationship is so skewed, their shared barycenter is located within the sun itself. Now the size disparity between the sun and Earth is unbelievably vast. The sun maintains an individual barycenter with every single one of its planets. These two bodies share a "barycenter," a common center of mass around which they both revolve. You see, it's not quite accurate to say Jupiter orbits the sun. Nevertheless, the planet is large enough to affect the sun in ways that Earth never could. This familiar yellow star accounts for a staggering 99.8 percent of all the mass in the solar system - Jupiter included. By the way, did you know that Jupiter has around 318 times the mass of our beloved home world? As a matter of fact, the stormy colossus is two-and-a-half times as massive as all the other planets in this solar system combined.īig as it is though, next to the sun Jupiter still looks puny. Were Jupiter a hollow shell, you could cram more 1,300 Earths inside it.
At its equator, the fifth planet from our sun is about 89,000 miles (143,000 kilometers) wide. Let's take a moment to review Jupiter's crazy proportions.
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