Interesting Facts About Jupiter, the Largest Planet of Our Solar System (Par II)

You will be intrigued to know that you may spot Jupiter with naked eyes.

Read on to know more about a few interesting facts about Jupiter that will blow your mind for sure.

You Can See Jupiter With Naked Eyes 

Jupiter is the second biggest object in the solar system apart from the sun and the third, brightest planet after Venus and Mars. There is a chance that you may spot Jupiter on a clear night but you won’t be able to recognize it barring you being an astronomer or a space scientist. There are possibilities that if you notice a very bright star in the sky, then there is a big chance that you may be looking at Jupiter. With the use of a telescope, you can see it more clearly. There are chances that you spot specks of light orbiting it, which are the moons of Jupiter.

Jupiter Has Rings

Whenever we think about a planet with a ring, Saturn is the plant that comes into our mind but Jupiter also has rings. 

Apart from Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter are two more planets that have rings of their own. The rings of Jupiter were the third set to be discovered after Saturn and Uranus mostly because they are predominantly faint. Jupiter’s rings have three main segments, the first one is an inner torus of particles known as the halo, then a comparatively bright main ring, and the third one is an outer gossamer ring. According to astronomers, the rings came into existence from materials ejected by its moons when they collided with meteorites. The main ring is supposed to be made of material from the moons of Adrastea and Metis, while the moons of Thebe and Amalthea are supposed to produce the two different components of the dusty gossamer ring.

Jupiter is the fastest-spinning planet in the solar system

You will be intrigued to know that despite being the largest planet in the solar system with massive mass; it’s the fastest-spinning planet in the solar system.

It takes 24 hours for spinning but it’s quite interesting to know that in spite of its large size and heavy mass, Jupiter is the fastest-spinning planet among all the planets in the solar system. Its rotational velocity is 28,185 mph (12.6 km/s), and it merely takes about 10 hours to complete a full rotation on its axis which is known as the Jovian Day. When it comes to orbit around the sun, Jupiter takes 12 Earth years to conclude one orbit of the Sun which is known as a Jovian year. This fast spin has made Jupiter compressed at the poles and knob around the equator. It also creates high levels of radiation on the planet from the wiggling of molecules in its atmosphere at this extreme velocity.