PlanetSolar system
Jupiter
A gas giant more massive than every other planet combined, wrapped in banded clouds and circled by a miniature planetary system of its own.
- Planet type
- Gas giant
- Mean radius
- 69,911 km
- Distance from the Sun
- 5.20 AU · 778.5 million km
- Day length
- 9 h 56 min
- Orbital period
- 11.86 Earth years
- Cloud-top temperature
- About −110 °C
- Confirmed moons
- 95
- Magnetic field
- About 20,000 times Earth’s
A giant among giants
Jupiter contains about 318 Earth masses and more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined. It has no solid surface: its visible clouds sit above layers of hydrogen and helium that become progressively denser and hotter with depth.
The Great Red Spot is a long-lived storm larger than Earth, while the planet’s fast rotation stretches its clouds into the familiar light and dark bands. Jupiter’s magnetic field is the strongest of any planet, driving intense auroras and a vast magnetosphere.
Io and the Galilean moons
Jupiter’s four largest moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto — were first seen by Galileo in 1610. Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, heated by tidal flexing from Jupiter’s gravity. Europa hides a salty ocean beneath its icy shell, and Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System.
Juno has transformed our view of Io’s volcanoes and Jupiter’s interior, while JWST is now adding infrared observations of the atmosphere and aurora.
A real view of Jupiter
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS · Juno
Juno, JWST, and JUICE
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been measuring Jupiter’s gravity, magnetic field, atmosphere, and deep interior since 2016. ESA’s JUICE mission is on its way to the Jovian system, and JWST is providing a new infrared view of Jupiter’s storms and upper atmosphere.
- How is Jupiter’s interior structured beneath its clouds?
- What powers the Great Red Spot, and how long will it last?
- How do Io’s volcanoes and Jupiter’s magnetosphere interact?
- Could Europa’s ocean support life?
Recent publications
| Year | Paper | Journal | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Ionospheric irregularities at Jupiter observed by JWST | Nature Astronomy | DOI |
| 2025 | Widespread Occurrence of Lava Lakes on Io Observed From Juno | JGR Planets | DOI |
| 2025 | Thermal Characteristics of Active Lava Flows on Io Observed by JIRAM | JGR Planets | DOI |
| 2023 | Jupiter’s interior from Juno: Equation-of-state uncertainties and dilute core extent | Astronomy & Astrophysics | DOI |
| 2022 | Juno spacecraft gravity measurements provide evidence for normal modes of Jupiter | Nature Communications | DOI |
Compiled 20 October 2026. Links resolve to the publisher DOI record.