Jupiter: Quick Facts

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The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

Nov. 12, 2026

News •

A wobbly exoplanet vanished—but astronomers aren’t worried • Nov. 11, 2026, 4:01 PM ET (Popular Science)

Jupiter and Mars are set for a breathtaking close approach later this week: Here's how to see it • Nov. 9, 2026, 5:00 PM ET (Space)

Supermoon, meteor showers and planet parade in Idaho night sky. When to look up • Nov. 5, 2026, 6:00 AM ET (Idaho Statesman)

Bruneians awed by rare Jupiter lunar occultation • Nov. 4, 2026, 2:55 AM ET (Toronto Star)

The moon, Mars, and Jupiter shine in the heart of the Lion overnight on Nov. 1-2 • Oct. 31, 2026, 9:00 AM ET (Space)

Photos and Videos

photo of Jupiter taken by Voyager 1

crescent view of Jupiter

computer-generated composite of Jupiter

computer-generated visualization of Jupiter's equatorial cloud layers

false-colour mosaic of Jupiter's northern hemisphere

false-colour mosaic of the Great Red Spot

Jupiter: south pole

Jupiter's Great Red Spot

View Jupiter's images captured from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard the New Horizons spacecraft

A white man in glasses holds a microphone under the text. Ask an Editor, and. What is planetary alignment?, against a starry space background.

Observe Jupiter as viewed from one of its moons lo

Know about the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa and the possibility of life beneath it

Learn about Io, Jupiter's moon with the most active volcanoes in the solar system

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M101 (NGC 5457, The Pinwheel Galaxy). Hubble Space Telescope image of face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101 (M101). Largest most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy that has ever been released from Hubble. Created from 1994-2003

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View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).

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Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 11. Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Aldrin, photographed July 20, 1969, during the first manned mission to the Moon's surface. Reflected in Aldrin's faceplate is the Lunar Module and astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took the picture.

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1 July 2002: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite reveals a massive solar eruption more than 30 times the Earth's diameter. The eruption formed when a loop of a magnetic field over the surface of the Sun trapped hot gas.

Brightest Star in the Solar System

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

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Planet Neptune

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View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).

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Model of a molecule. Atom, Biology, Molecular Structure, Science, Science and Technology. Homepage 2010 arts and entertainment, history and society

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This artist's concept illustrates Kepler-16b, the first planet known to definitively orbit two stars -- what's called a circumbinary planet. The planet, which can be seen in the foreground, was discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The two orbiting stars r

Extrasolar Planets

Saturn. Saturn and its rings. Second largest planet of the solar system. Space Art

Planets and the Earth’s Moon