Jupiter

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This article is about the planet. For the Roman god, see Jupiter (mythology). For other uses, see Jupiter
(disambiguation).

Jupiter

Full disk view in natural color, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in April 2014 [a]

Designations

Pronunciation /ˈdʒuːpɪtər/ ( listen)[1]

Named after Jupiter

Adjectives Jovian /ˈdʒoʊviən/

Orbital characteristics[7]

Epoch J2000

Aphelion 816.62 Gm (5.4588 AU)

Perihelion 740.52 Gm (4.9501 AU)

Semi-major axis 778.57 Gm (5.2044 AU)

Eccentricity 0.0489
  11.862 yr
Orbital period (sidereal)  4,332.59 d
 10,475.8 Jovian solar days[2]

Orbital period (synodic) 398.88 d

Average orbital speed 13.07 km/s (8.12 mi/s)

Mean anomaly 20.020°[3]

 1.303° to ecliptic[3]
Inclination  6.09° to Sun's equator[3]
 0.32° to invariable plane[4]

Longitude of ascending node 100.464°

Time of perihelion 21 January 2023[5]

Argument of perihelion 273.867°[3]

Known satellites 80 (as of 2021)[6]

Physical characteristics[7][13][14]

69,911 km (43,441 mi)[b]
Mean radius
10.973 Earths

 71,492 km (44,423 mi)[b]
Equatorial radius  11.209 Earths

 66,854 km (41,541 mi)[b]
Polar radius  10.517 Earths

Flattening 0.06487

 6.1469×1010 km2 (2.3733×1010 sq mi)
Surface area  120.4 Earths

 1.4313×1015 km3 (3.434×1014 cu mi)[b]
Volume
 1,321 Earths

 1.8982×1027 kg (4.1848×1027 lb)
Mass  317.8 Earths
 1/1047 Sun[8]

Mean density 1,326 kg/m3 (2,235 lb/cu yd)[c]

 24.79 m/s2 (81.3 ft/s2)[b]
Surface gravity
2.528 g

Moment of inertia factor 0.2756±0.0006[9]

Escape velocity 59.5 km/s (37.0 mi/s)[b]

Synodic rotation period 9.9258 h (9 h 55 m 33 s)[2]

Sidereal rotation period 9.9250 hours (9 h 55 m 30 s)

Equatorial rotation velocity 12.6 km/s (7.8 mi/s; 45,000 km/h)

Axial tilt 3.13° (to orbit)

h m s
North pole right ascension 268.057°; 17 52 14

North pole declination 64.495°

0.503 (Bond)[10]
Albedo
0.538 (geometric)[11]

Surface temp. min mean max

1 bar 165 K

0.1 bar 78 K 128 K 1000 K

Apparent magnitude −2.94[12] to −1.66[12]

Angular diameter 29.8" to 50.1"

Atmosphere[7]

Surface pressure 200–600 kPa (opaque cloud deck)[15]

Scale height 27 km (17 mi)

 89%±2.0% hydrogen (H2)

 10%±2.0% helium (He)
 0.3%±0.1% methane (CH4)
Composition by volume  0.026%±0.004% ammonia (NH3)
 0.0028%±0.001% hydrogen deuteride (HD)
 0.0006%±0.0002% ethane (C2H6)
 0.0004%±0.0004% water (H2O)
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with
a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined,
but slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. Jupiter is the third brightest natural
object in the Earth's night sky after the Moon and Venus. People have been observing it since
prehistoric times; it was named after the Roman god Jupiter, the king of the gods, because of its
observed size.

Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen, but helium constitutes one-quarter of its mass and
one-tenth of its volume. It likely has a rocky core of heavier elements,[16] but, like the other giant
planets, Jupiter lacks a well-defined solid surface. The ongoing contraction of its interior
generates heat greater than the amount received from the Sun. Because of its rapid rotation, the
planet's shape is an oblate spheroid; it has a slight but noticeable bulge around the equator. The
outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes, with turbulence
and storms along their interacting boundaries. A prominent result of this is the Great Red Spot, a
giant storm known to have existed since at least the 17th century when telescopes first saw it.

Surrounding Jupiter is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere. Jupiter's
magnetic tail is nearly 800 million km (5.3 AU; 500 million mi) long, covering the entire
distance to Saturn's orbit. Jupiter has 80 known moons and possibly many more,[6] including the
four large Galilean moons discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and
Callisto. Io and Europa are about the size of Earth's Moon; Callisto is almost the size of the
planet Mercury, and Ganymede is even larger.

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to visit Jupiter, making its closest approach to the planet in
December 1973.[17] Jupiter has since been explored on several occasions by robotic spacecraft,
beginning with the Pioneer and Voyager flyby missions from 1973 to 1979, and later by the
Galileo orbiter, which arrived at Jupiter in 1995.[18] In 2007, the New Horizons visited Jupiter
using its gravity to increase its speed, bending its trajectory en route to Pluto. The latest probe to
visit the planet, Juno, entered orbit around Jupiter in July 2016.[19][20] Future targets for
exploration in the Jupiter system include the probable ice-covered liquid ocean of Europa.[21]

Contents
 1 Name and symbol
 2 Formation and migration
 3 Physical characteristics
o 3.1 Composition
o 3.2 Mass and size
o 3.3 Internal structure
o 3.4 Atmosphere
 3.4.1 Cloud layers
 3.4.2 Great Red Spot and other vortices
o 3.5 Magnetosphere
 4 Orbit and rotation
  5 Observation
 6 History of research and exploration
o 6.1 Pre-telescopic research
o 6.2 Ground-based telescope research
o 6.3 Radiotelescope research
o 6.4 Exploration
 6.4.1 Flyby missions
 6.4.2 Galileo mission
 6.4.3 Juno mission
 6.4.4 Canceled missions and future plans
 7 Moons
o 7.1 Galilean moons
o 7.2 Classification
o 7.3 Planetary rings
 8 Interaction with the Solar System
o 8.1 Impacts
 9 Mythology
 10 Gallery
 11 See also
 12 Notes
 13 References
 14 External links

Name and symbol

The symbol for Jupiter in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) manuscripts descends
from Ζ (zeta).[22]

In Classical antiquity, Jupiter was considered the king of the planets because its twelve-year
orbital period matched it to the twelve constellations of the zodiac, moving it through a new
constellation every year.[citation needed] In Classical mythology it was named for the king of the gods:
Zeus to the Greeks and Jupiter to the Romans. The planetary symbol for Jupiter, , descends
from a Greek zeta with a horizontal stroke, ⟨Ƶ⟩, as an abbreviation for Zeus.[22]

The Romans named the fifth day of the week diēs Iovis ("Jove's Day") for the planet Jupiter.[23]
The English equivalent is Thursday ("Thor's day").

Formation and migration

Main article: Grand tack hypothesis
See also: Formation and evolution of the Solar System

Jupiter is most likely the oldest planet in the Solar System.[24] Current models of Solar System
formation suggest that Jupiter formed at or beyond the snow line; a distance from the early Sun
where the temperature is sufficiently cold for volatiles such as water to condense into solids.[25] It
first assembled a large solid core before accumulating its gaseous atmosphere. As a consequence,
the core must have formed before the solar nebula began to dissipate after 10 million years.
Formation models suggest Jupiter grew to 20 times the mass of the Earth in under a million
years. The orbiting mass created a gap in the disk, thereafter slowly increasing to 50 Earth
masses in 3–4 million years.[24]

According to the "grand tack hypothesis", Jupiter would have begun to form at a distance of
roughly 3.5 AU (520 million km; 330 million mi). As the young planet accreted mass, interaction
with the gas disk orbiting the Sun and orbital resonances with Saturn[25] caused it to migrate
inward.[26] This would have upset the orbits of what are believed to be super-Earths orbiting
closer to the Sun, causing them to collide destructively. Saturn would later have begun to migrate
inwards too, much faster than Jupiter, leading to the two planets becoming locked in a 3:2 mean
motion resonance at approximately 1.5 AU (220 million km; 140 million mi). This, in turn,
would have changed the direction of migration, causing them to migrate away from the Sun and
out of the inner system to their current locations.[27] These migrations would have occurred over
an 800,000-year time period,[26] with all of this happening over a time period of up to 6 million
years after Jupiter began to form (3 million being a more likely figure).[28] This departure would
have allowed the formation of the inner planets from the rubble, including Earth.[29]

There are some problem with the grand tack hypothesis. The resulting formation timescales of
terrestrial planets appear inconsistent with the measured terrestrial composition.[30] The
likelihood that the outward migration actually occurred in the solar nebula is very low.[31] Some
models predict the formation of Jupiter's analogues whose properties are close to those of the
planet at the current epoch.[32] Other models have Jupiter forming at distances much further out,
such as 18 AU (2.7 billion km; 1.7 billion mi).[33][34] Based on Jupiter's composition, researchers
have made the case for an initial formation outside the molecular nitrogen (N2) snowline, which
is estimated at 20–30 AU (3.0–4.5 billion km; 1.9–2.8 billion mi),[35][36] and possibly even outside
the argon snowline, which may be as far as 40 AU (6.0 billion km; 3.7 billion mi). Having
formed at one of these extreme distances, Jupiter would then have migrated inwards to its current
location. This inward migration would have occurred over a roughly 700,000-year time period,[33]
[34]
during an epoch approximately 2–3 million years after the planet began to form. Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune would have formed even further out than Jupiter, and Saturn would also
have migrated inwards.

Physical characteristics
Jupiter is one of the two gas giants, being primarily composed of gas and liquid rather than solid
matter. It is the largest planet in the Solar System, with a diameter of 142,984 km (88,846 mi) at
its equator.[37] The average density of Jupiter, 1.326 g/cm3, is the second highest of the giant
planets, but lower than those of the four terrestrial planets.[38]
Composition

Jupiter's upper atmosphere is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium by volume. Since helium
atoms are more massive than hydrogen molecules, Jupiter's atmosphere is approximately 75%
hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, with the remaining one percent consisting of other elements.
The atmosphere contains trace amounts of methane, water vapour, ammonia, and silicon-based
compounds. There are also fractional amounts of carbon, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon,
oxygen, phosphine, and sulfur. The outermost layer of the atmosphere contains crystals of frozen
ammonia. Through infrared and ultraviolet measurements, trace amounts of benzene and other
hydrocarbons have also been found.[39] The interior of Jupiter contains denser materials—by
mass it is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 5% other elements.[40][41]

The atmospheric proportions of hydrogen and helium are close to the theoretical composition of
the primordial solar nebula. Neon in the upper atmosphere only consists of 20 parts per million
by mass, which is about a tenth as abundant as in the Sun.[42] Helium is also depleted to about
80% of the Sun's helium composition. This depletion is a result of precipitation of these elements
as helium-rich droplets deep in the interior of the planet.[43]

Based on spectroscopy, Saturn is thought to be similar in composition to Jupiter, but the other
giant planets Uranus and Neptune have relatively less hydrogen and helium and relatively more
of the next most abundant elements, including oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur.[44] As their
volatile compounds are mainly in ice form, they are called ice giants.

Mass and size

Main article: Jupiter mass

Jupiter's diameter is one order of magnitude smaller (×0.10045) than that of the Sun, and one order of
magnitude larger (×10.9733) than that of Earth. The Great Red Spot is roughly the same size as Earth.

Jupiter's mass is 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined—this is so
massive that its barycentre with the Sun lies above the Sun's surface at 1.068 solar radii from the
Sun's centre.[45] Jupiter is much larger than Earth and considerably less dense: its volume is that
of about 1,321 Earths, but it is only 318 times as massive.[7][46] Jupiter's radius is about one tenth
the radius of the Sun,[47] and its mass is one thousandth the mass of the Sun, so the densities of
the two bodies are similar.[48] A "Jupiter mass" (MJ or MJup) is often used as a unit to describe
masses of other objects, particularly extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs. For example, the
extrasolar planet HD 209458 b has a mass of 0.69 MJ, while Kappa Andromedae b has a mass of
12.8 MJ.[49]

Theoretical models indicate that if Jupiter had much more mass than it does at present, it would
shrink.[50] For small changes in mass, the radius would not change appreciably, and above
160%[50] of the current mass the interior would become so much more compressed under the
increased pressure that its volume would decrease despite the increasing amount of matter. As a
result, Jupiter is thought to have about as large a diameter as a planet of its composition and
evolutionary history can achieve.[51] The process of further shrinkage with increasing mass would
continue until appreciable stellar ignition was achieved, as in high-mass brown dwarfs having
around 50 Jupiter masses.[52]

Although Jupiter would need to be about 75 times more massive to fuse hydrogen and become a
star, the smallest red dwarf is only about 30 percent larger in radius than Jupiter.[53][54] Despite
this, Jupiter still radiates more heat than it receives from the Sun; the amount of heat produced
inside it is similar to the total solar radiation it receives.[55] This additional heat is generated by
the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism through contraction. This process causes Jupiter to shrink by
about 1 mm (0.039 in)/yr.[56][57] When formed, Jupiter was hotter and was about twice its current
diameter.[58]

Internal structure

Diagram of Jupiter, its interior, surface features, rings, and inner moons.

Before the early 21st century, most scientists expected Jupiter to either consist of a dense core, a
surrounding layer of liquid metallic hydrogen (with some helium) extending outward to about
80% of the radius of the planet,[59] and an outer atmosphere consisting predominantly of
molecular hydrogen,[57] or perhaps to have no core at all, consisting instead of denser and denser
fluid (predominantly molecular and metallic hydrogen) all the way to the center, depending on
whether the planet accreted first as a solid body or collapsed directly from the gaseous
protoplanetary disk. When the Juno mission arrived in July 2016,[19] it found that Jupiter has a
very diffuse core that mixes into its mantle.[60][61] A possible cause is an impact from a planet of
about ten Earth masses a few million years after Jupiter's formation, which would have disrupted
an originally solid Jovian core.[62][63] It is estimated that the core is 30–50% of the planet's radius,
and contains heavy elements 7–25 times the mass of Earth.[64]

Above the layer of metallic hydrogen lies a transparent interior atmosphere of hydrogen. At this
depth, the pressure and temperature are above molecular hydrogen's critical pressure of 1.3 MPa
and critical temperature of only 33 K (−240.2 °C; −400.3 °F).[65] In this state, there are no distinct
liquid and gas phases—hydrogen is said to be in a supercritical fluid state. It is convenient to
treat hydrogen as gas extending downward from the cloud layer to a depth of about 1,000 km
(620 mi),[55] and as liquid in deeper layers, possibly resembling something akin to an ocean of
liquid hydrogen and other supercritical fluids.[66][67][68]

Physically, there is no clear boundary—the gas smoothly becomes hotter and denser as depth
increases.[69][70] Rain-like droplets of helium and neon precipitate downward through the lower
atmosphere, depleting the abundance of these elements in the upper atmosphere.[43][71]
Calculations suggest that helium drops separate from metallic hydrogen at a radius of 60,000 km
(37,000 mi) (11,000 km (6,800 mi) below the cloudtops) and merge again at 50,000 km
(31,000 mi) (22,000 km (14,000 mi) beneath the clouds).[72] Rainfalls of diamonds have been
suggested to occur, as well as on Saturn[73] and the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.[74]

The temperature and pressure inside Jupiter increase steadily inward, this is observed in
microwave emission and required because the heat of formation can only escape by convection.
At the pressure level of 10 bars (1 MPa), the temperature is around 340 K (67 °C; 152 °F). The
hydrogen is always supercritical (that is, it never encounters a first-order phase transition) even
as it changes gradually from a molecular fluid to a metallic fluid at around 100–200 GPa, where
the temperature is perhaps 5,000 K (4,730 °C; 8,540 °F). The temperature of Jupiter's diluted
core is estimated at around 20,000 K (19,700 °C; 35,500 °F) or more with an estimated pressure
of around 4,500 GPa.[75]

Atmosphere

Main article: Atmosphere of Jupiter

Jupiter has the deepest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System, spanning over 5,000 km
(3,000 mi) in altitude.[76][77]

Cloud layers
South polar view of Jupiter

Enhanced color view of Jupiter's southern storms

Jupiter is perpetually covered with clouds composed of ammonia crystals, and possibly
ammonium hydrosulfide. The clouds are in the tropopause and are in bands of different latitudes,
known as tropical regions. These are subdivided into lighter-hued zones and darker belts. The
interactions of these conflicting circulation patterns cause storms and turbulence. Wind speeds of
100 metres per second (360 km/h; 220 mph) are common in zonal jet streams.[78] The zones have
been observed to vary in width, colour and intensity from year to year, but they have remained
sufficiently stable for scientists to name them.[46]

The cloud layer is about 50 km (31 mi) deep, and consists of at least two decks of clouds: a thick
lower deck and a thin clearer region. There may also be a thin layer of water clouds underlying
the ammonia layer. Supporting the presence of water clouds are the flashes of lightning detected
in the atmosphere of Jupiter. These electrical discharges can be up to a thousand times as
powerful as lightning on Earth.[79] The water clouds are assumed to generate thunderstorms in the
same way as terrestrial thunderstorms, driven by the heat rising from the interior.[80] The Juno
mission revealed the presence of "shallow lightning" which originates from ammonia-water
clouds relatively high in the atmosphere.[81] These discharges carry "mushballs" of water-
ammonia slushes covered in ice, which fall deep into the atmosphere.[82] Upper-atmospheric
lightning has been observed in Jupiter's upper atmosphere, bright flashes of light that last around
1.4 milliseconds. These are known as "elves" or "sprites" and appear blue or pink due to the
hydrogen.[83][84]
Time-lapse sequence from the approach of Voyager 1, showing the motion of atmospheric bands and
circulation of the Great Red Spot. Recorded over 32 days with one photograph taken every 10 hours
(once per Jovian day). See full size video.

The orange and brown colours in the clouds of Jupiter are caused by upwelling compounds that
change colour when they are exposed to ultraviolet light from the Sun. The exact makeup
remains uncertain, but the substances are thought to be phosphorus, sulfur or possibly
hydrocarbons.[55][85] These colourful compounds, known as chromophores, mix with the warmer
lower deck of clouds. The zones are formed when rising convection cells form crystallising
ammonia that masks out these lower clouds from view.[86]

Jupiter's low axial tilt means that the poles always receive less solar radiation than the planet's
equatorial region. Convection within the interior of the planet transports energy to the poles,
balancing out the temperatures at the cloud layer.[46]

Great Red Spot and other vortices

The best known feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot,[87] a persistent anticyclonic storm
located 22° south of the equator. It is known to have existed since at least 1831,[88] and possibly
since 1665.[89][90] Images by the Hubble Space Telescope have shown as many as two "red spots"
adjacent to the Great Red Spot.[91][92] The storm is visible through Earth-based telescopes with an
aperture of 12 cm or larger.[93] The oval object rotates counterclockwise, with a period of about
six days.[94] The maximum altitude of this storm is about 8 km (5 mi) above the surrounding
cloudtops.[95] The Spot's composition and the source of its red color remain uncertain, although
photodissociated ammonia reacting with acetylene is a robust candidate to explain the coloration.
[96]
Close up of The Great Red Spot, Taken by the Juno spacecraft, in April 2018.

The Great Red Spot is larger than the Earth.[97] Mathematical models suggest that the storm is
stable and will be a permanent feature of the planet.[98] However, it has significantly decreased in
size since its discovery. Initial observations in the late 1800s showed it to be approximately
41,000 km (25,500 mi) across. By the time of the Voyager flybys in 1979, the storm had a length
of 23,300 km (14,500 mi) and a width of approximately 13,000 km (8,000 mi).[99] Hubble
observations in 1995 showed it had decreased in size to 20,950 km (13,020 mi), and observations
in 2009 showed the size to be 17,910 km (11,130 mi). As of 2015, the storm was measured at
approximately 16,500 by 10,940 km (10,250 by 6,800 mi),[99] and was decreasing in length by
about 930 km (580 mi) per year.[97][100] In October 2021, a Juno flyby mission utilized two
scientific instruments to measure the depth of the Great Red Spot putting it at around 300 - 500
km (186 -310 miles) deep.[101]

Juno missions show that there are several polar cyclone groups at Jupiter's poles. The northern
group contains nine cyclones, with a large one in the center and eight others around it, while its
southern counterpart also consists of a center vortex but is surrounded by five large storms and a
single smaller one.[102][103] These polar structures are caused by the turbulence in Jupiter's
atmosphere and can be compared with the hexagon at Saturn's north pole.

The Great Red Spot is decreasing in size (May 15, 2014) [104]

In 2000, an atmospheric feature formed in the southern hemisphere that is similar in appearance
to the Great Red Spot, but smaller. This was created when smaller, white oval-shaped storms
merged to form a single feature—these three smaller white ovals were first observed in 1938.
The merged feature was named Oval BA and has been nicknamed "Red Spot Junior." It has since
increased in intensity and changed from white to red.[105][106][107]

In April 2017, a "Great Cold Spot" was discovered in Jupiter's thermosphere at its north pole.
This feature is 24,000 km (15,000 mi) across, 12,000 km (7,500 mi) wide, and 200 °C (360 °F)
cooler than surrounding material. While this spot changes form and intensity over the short term,
it has maintained its general position in the atmosphere for more than 15 years. It may be a giant
vortex similar to the Great Red Spot, and appears to be quasi-stable like the vortices in Earth's
thermosphere. Interactions between charged particles generated from Io and the planet's strong
magnetic field likely resulted in redistribution of heat flow, forming the Spot.[108]

Magnetosphere

Main article: Magnetosphere of Jupiter

Aurorae

Aurorae on the north and south poles

(animation)

Aurorae on the north pole

(Hubble)

Infrared view of southern lights

(Jovian IR Mapper)

Jupiter's magnetic field is fourteen times stronger than Earth's, ranging from 4.2 gauss (0.42 mT)
at the equator to 10–14 gauss (1.0–1.4 mT) at the poles, making it the strongest in the Solar
System (except for sunspots).[86] This field is thought to be generated by eddy currents—swirling
movements of conducting materials—within the liquid metallic hydrogen core. The volcanoes on
the moon Io emit large amounts of sulfur dioxide, forming a gas torus along the moon's orbit.
The gas is ionised in the magnetosphere, producing sulfur and oxygen ions. They, together with
hydrogen ions originating from the atmosphere of Jupiter, form a plasma sheet in Jupiter's
equatorial plane. The plasma in the sheet co-rotates with the planet, causing deformation of the
dipole magnetic field into that of a magnetodisk. Electrons within the plasma sheet generate a
strong radio signature that produces bursts in the range of 0.6–30 MHz which are detectable from
Earth with consumer-grade shortwave radio receivers.[109][110]
At about 75 Jupiter radii from the planet, the interaction of the magnetosphere with the solar
wind generates a bow shock. Surrounding Jupiter's magnetosphere is a magnetopause, located at
the inner edge of a magnetosheath—a region between it and the bow shock. The solar wind
interacts with these regions, elongating the magnetosphere on Jupiter's lee side and extending it
outward until it nearly reaches the orbit of Saturn. The four largest moons of Jupiter all orbit
within the magnetosphere, which protects them from the solar wind.[55]

The magnetosphere of Jupiter is responsible for intense episodes of radio emission from the
planet's polar regions. Volcanic activity on Jupiter's moon Io injects gas into Jupiter's
magnetosphere, producing a torus of particles about the planet. As Io moves through this torus,
the interaction generates Alfvén waves that carry ionised matter into the polar regions of Jupiter.
As a result, radio waves are generated through a cyclotron maser mechanism, and the energy is
transmitted out along a cone-shaped surface. When Earth intersects this cone, the radio emissions
from Jupiter can exceed the solar radio output.[111]

Orbit and rotation

Jupiter (red) completes one orbit of the Sun (centre) for every 11.86 orbits by Earth (blue)

A rotation time-lapse of Jupiter over 3 hours

Jupiter is the only planet whose barycentre with the Sun lies outside the volume of the Sun,
though by only 7% of the Sun's radius.[112] The average distance between Jupiter and the Sun is
778 million km (about 5.2 times the average distance between Earth and the Sun, or 5.2 AU) and
it completes an orbit every 11.86 years. This is approximately two-fifths the orbital period of
Saturn, forming a near orbital resonance.[113] The orbital plane of Jupiter is inclined 1.31°
compared to Earth. Because the eccentricity of its orbit is 0.048, Jupiter is slightly over
75 million km nearer the Sun at perihelion than aphelion.[7]

The axial tilt of Jupiter is relatively small, only 3.13°, so its seasons are insignificant compared
to those of Earth and Mars.[114]

Jupiter's rotation is the fastest of all the Solar System's planets, completing a rotation on its axis
in slightly less than ten hours; this creates an equatorial bulge easily seen through an amateur
telescope. The planet is an oblate spheroid, meaning that the diameter across its equator is longer
than the diameter measured between its poles. On Jupiter, the equatorial diameter is 9,275 km
(5,763 mi) longer than the polar diameter.[70]

Because Jupiter is not a solid body, its upper atmosphere undergoes differential rotation. The
rotation of Jupiter's polar atmosphere is about 5 minutes longer than that of the equatorial
atmosphere; three systems are used as frames of reference, particularly when graphing the
motion of atmospheric features. System I applies to latitudes from 10° N to 10° S; its period is
the planet's shortest, at 9h 50m 30.0s. System II applies at all latitudes north and south of these;
its period is 9h 55m 40.6s. System III was defined by radio astronomers and corresponds to the
rotation of the planet's magnetosphere; its period is Jupiter's official rotation.[115]

Observation

Conjunction of Jupiter and the Moon

The retrograde motion of an outer planet is caused by its relative location with respect to Earth

Jupiter is usually the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, the Moon, and Venus);[86] at
opposition Mars can appear brighter than Jupiter. Depending on Jupiter's position with respect to
the Earth, it can vary in visual magnitude from as bright as −2.94[12] at opposition down to[12]
−1.66 during conjunction with the Sun. The mean apparent magnitude is −2.20 with a standard
deviation of 0.33.[12] The angular diameter of Jupiter likewise varies from 50.1 to 29.8 arc
seconds.[7] Favorable oppositions occur when Jupiter is passing through perihelion, an event that
occurs once per orbit.[116]

Because the orbit of Jupiter is outside that of Earth, the phase angle of Jupiter as viewed from
Earth never exceeds 11.5°; thus, Jupiter always appears nearly fully illuminated when viewed
through Earth-based telescopes. It was only during spacecraft missions to Jupiter that crescent
views of the planet were obtained.[117] A small telescope will usually show Jupiter's four Galilean
moons and the prominent cloud belts across Jupiter's atmosphere. A larger telescope with an
aperture of 4–6 in (10.16–15.24 cm) will show Jupiter's Great Red Spot when it faces Earth.[118]
[119]