The 'Red Spot' Storm On Jupiter Is Large Enough To Fit Three Earths Inside It

Fact of the day: The 'Red Spot' storm on Jupiter is large enough to fit three Earths inside it.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, and the fourth planet away from the sun. It is 5.2 astronomical units (778.5 million km) away from the sun.


(above) Jupiter.


Jupiter is known for being the largest planet in the solar system, and for its ferocious atmosphere and storms, such as the 'Red Spot'. Jupiter's atmosphere is made up of various bands, moving at different speeds. Its atmosphere mainly consists of ammonia crystals, and this layer is only 50 km deep.
Jupiter is made up of (from the surface inwards) its atmosphere, hydrogen gas, liquid hydrogen, a mix of helium and neon, a very thick layer of metallic hydrogen, and then its rocky and icy core.

(below) Jupiter's stormy atmosphere.


Jupiter has 67 moons, the four largest are: Ganymede, which is one of the largest in the solar system; Callisto, which has a diameter 99% that of Mercury's; Io, which is highly volcanically active; and Europa, which is one of the only places in the solar system (among The Earth and Mars) thought to be able to support life, as it has has an exterior of solid ice, and liquid water underneath the ice.

Jupiter takes 11.86 Earth years to orbit the sun, and it takes just less than 10 earth hours to rotate one on its axis.

(below) Jupiter's Moon Europa.




Images from NASA, https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html

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