Like to be in the middle of things? Well, here's a spot for you. As the fifth planet from the Sun, Jupiter is quite literally the center of attention. So hop aboard, and let's go visit the king of planets!

Jupiter's notoriety is based upon many things. Without question, Jupiter is the largest planet in this solar system. If you were to put all of the other planets together into one ball it still would not be as big as Jupiter, whose diameter is 88,846 miles across its diameter. It takes Jupiter 9 hours and 50 minutes to revolve around its own axis and it takes 11.86 years for Jupiter to make a complete orbit around the Sun.

Jupiter creates its own heat from its internal core and emits twice as much heat as it absorbs from the Sun. Some scientists believe that hydrogen inside Jupiter forms a liquid metallic hydrogen. Below this layer of hydrogen is its inner core. There is some disagreement whether the core is made of rocks or if it is just a mixture of solid and liquid materials. In any case, everyone agrees that whatever the core is made of, it is very hot.

Jupiter is surrounded by clouds high in its atmosphere. The clouds at the top of the atmosphere are orange and red. The next layer is blue and white. And the clouds closest to the planet are brown and orange. The colors seen in its clouds are chemical reactions in Jupiter's atmosphere. Sulfur is one chemcal that produces a widespread range of colors and many scientists believe that sulfur is present in Jupiter's atmosphere. Another interesting fact is that you cannot see a solid surface below Jupiter's clouds. Jupiter is known as one of the gas giants, meaning that it is made up of gases and liquids. Ohter gas giants are Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus.

Winds on Jupiter blow as fast as 400 miles per hour and are often contained in distinct bands. The light-colored bands seem to be rising and are called zones. The darker bands seem to be sinking and are called belts. Sometimes scientists watch oval spots inside the dark belts, which they believe are hurricanes which can last up to several decades. The Great Red Spot is one of these hurricanes that is moving in a counter-clockwise direction and which has lasted more than 300 years. It is twice as big as the Earth and winds are believed to be faster than 250 miles per hour.

Another thing that makes Jupiter unique is its moons and rings. There have been sixteen moons identified as belonging to Jupiter's orbit. The sixteen moons are divided up between the four small ones closest to Jupiter, the next four which are very large and called the Galilean moons, and the remaining eight moons that are small and further away from Jupiter. Sinope is almost fifteen million miles away from Jupiter. One of Jupiter's moons, Io, is thought to have volcanoes on it.

Jupiter has faint, dark, narrow rings composed of tiny rock fragments and dust. They do not contain ice, like Saturn's rings. Jupiter's rings are continuously losing material and being resupplied with new dust from micrometeors hitting Jupiter's four inner moons: Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, and Thebe. Jupiter's rings were discovered by NASA's Voyager 1 in 1980. The rings were investigated further when Voyager 2 flew by Jupiter. For more information, please warp on over to Jupiter's Rings.

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