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Fun facts and trivia about the solar system, including the sun, the planets,
and other celestial bodies.
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Jupiter - The Largest of the Planets
- Jupiter is not just the largest of all the planets - if you took all the other planets in the solar system and combined them into one massive planet,
that giant planet would still only be half the mass of Jupiter!
- Jupiter is the first of the gas giants - the outer planets which are made up primarily of gasses, with a smaller, rocky core.
- The largest planet also boasts having the largest moon orbiting it; Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, bigger even than the planet Mercury!
- In his book 2010: Odyssey Two
 , Arthur C. Clarke presented the
astonishing possibility that maybe the core of Jupiter is actually a giant diamond, formed by carbon under massive pressure.
- Arthur C. Clarke also described, in his book 2001: A Space Odyssey
 , how spaceships might use Jupiter to "slingshot" to the outer planets. This process has been done by unmanned craft exploring the outer limits of the solar system.
- Jupiter is famous for its Great Red Spot (known also simply as the GRS). This spot is a massive storm, which has been in existence for at least four centuries! The storm is bigger than the entire planet Earth!
- Though they are not as obvious as Saturn's rings, Jupiter does have rings of its own.
"The Solar System" is written by Douglas Twitchell, and hosted at The Problem Site.
Contents copyright 2009 by Douglas Twitchell. Contents of this page may not be reproduced without permission of the author. For information on using
this site in a classroom situation, please visit the Teachers page.
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