(ambient music)
- [Narrator] Born from
primordial stardust,
4.5 billion years ago,
Jupiter was the solar
system's first planet.
And much like its namesake,
the king of the ancient Roman gods,
Jupiter was destined for greatness.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun,
and the largest planet
in the solar system.
At approximately 11 earths wide,
Jupiter has twice the amount of mass
as the other planets put together.
But, unlike Earth, and the
three other terrestrial worlds,
Jupiter has no solid surface.
It may not even have a
traditionally solid core.
Rather, this giant planet may
have a dense, liquid center
surround by a worldwide ocean
of hydrogen and helium gases.
Jupiter's gassiest composition
can be observed in its atmosphere.
About 44 miles thick,
the atmosphere is a canvas
of stripes and storms,
churning across the giant planet.
Their colors range
between shades of whites,
yellows, browns, and reds,
all caused by the different
chemical make up of each area.
Probably the most iconic
feature of Jupiter,
is a crimson brown
storm that's been raging
for over 300 years, the Great Red Spot.
It's a giant, swirling
collection of clouds
with wind speeds of up
to 400 miles per hour,
at least two and half times faster
than category five hurricanes.
Floating hundreds of miles
above the storms of Jupiter,
are about 79 moons, the most
of the eight known planets.
The four largest moons were
discovered by Galileo in 1610.
Called the Galilean
Satellites, they include:
Io, the most volcanically
active celestial body
in the solar system;
Ganymede, the solar system's largest moon,
even larger than the planet Mercury;
and Callisto and Europa,
which along with Ganymede,
may contain oceans of liquid
water underneath their crusts.
Jupiter's large collection of
moons is only made possible
by the planet's massive
size and gravitational pull,
the strongest of all the
planets in the solar system.
This incredible gravity
also influence the sizes
of the seven other planets.
During the solar system's
earliest days, Jupiter,
being the first planet to form,
attracted and destroyed space debris
that would've helped the
other planets grow in size.
Today, that force may serve as a shield
by attracting comets and asteroids
onto Jupiter's own surface,
preventing them from crashing
onto inner planets like Earth.
Apart from the sun,
Jupiter has become the dominant
figure in the solar system,
thereby earning its place at the top
of the planetary heap as king.
(ominous tonal music)
