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Its diameter is eleven times that of Earth, and a tenth that of the Sun. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm), with an orbital period of 11.86 years. It is the third-brightest natural object in the Earth's night sky , after the Moon and Venus , and has been observed since prehistoric times .
The Jupiter radius or Jovian radius (R J or R Jup) has a value of 71,492 km (44,423 mi), or 11.2 Earth radii (R 🜨) [2] (one Earth radius equals 0.08921 R J). The Jupiter radius is a unit of length used in astronomy to describe the radii of gas giants and some exoplanets. It is also used in describing brown dwarfs.
Earth radius (denoted as R 🜨 or R E) is the distance from the center of Earth to a point on or near its surface. Approximating the figure of Earth by an Earth spheroid (an oblate ellipsoid), the radius ranges from a maximum (equatorial radius, denoted a) of nearly 6,378 km (3,963 mi) to a minimum (polar radius, denoted b) of nearly 6,357 km (3,950 mi).
Just one day before opposition, Jupiter will be around 367 million miles away from the Earth, the closest the two planets have been in 59 years, according to NASA. The last time that Jupiter was ...
Although the impacts took place on the side of Jupiter hidden from Earth, Galileo, then at a distance of 1.6 AU (240 million km; 150 million mi) from the planet, was able to see the impacts as they occurred. Jupiter's rapid rotation brought the impact sites into view for terrestrial observers a few minutes after the collisions.
[16] [17] [18] An astronomical unit, or AU, is the distance from Earth to the Sun, which is approximately 150 billion meters (93 million miles). [19] Small Solar System objects are classified by their orbits: [20] [21] Main Asteroid belt (main belt), between Mars and Jupiter, in near circular orbit, 2.2 to 3.2 AU
The Great Red Spot is a massive vortex within Jupiter’s atmosphere that is about 10,159 miles (16,350 kilometers) wide, which is similar to Earth’s diameter, according to NASA. The storm ...
The size and shape of the probe's orbit were adjusted to a much smaller degree, so that its aphelion remained at approximately 5 AU (Jupiter's distance from the Sun), while its perihelion lay somewhat beyond 1 AU (Earth's distance from the Sun). During its Jupiter encounter, the probe made measurements of the planet's magnetosphere. [33] Since ...