The Outer Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

The Outer Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — page 5
hapter CHARACTERISTICS OF JUPITER NNhe fifth planet from the Sun and the solar system s largest planet by far is Jupiter More than 1 300 Earths would fit inside it The planet is one of the bright est objects in the night sky and even a small telescope can reveal its multicolored stripes These stripes are bands of clouds being pushed around the planet by strong east west winds Jupiter is a world of complex weather patterns Its most prominent feature is an orange red oval called the Great Red Spot The oval is a storm system that has lasted at least 300 years and is bigger across than Earth and Mars combined Bands of pastel colored clouds encircle the giant planet Jupiter which appears in a composite of images taken by the Cassini space craft The small black disk at lower left is a shadow cast by Jupiter's moon Europa The enormous storm called the Great Red Spot is visible at lower right The raw images were taken in two colors which were processed to simulate Jupiter's natural colors NASA JPL University of Arizona