Jupiter for Kids
Planet 5 from the Sun
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. Its day lasts 9.9 hours. Its year lasts 11.9 Earth years. That is from NASA's planetary fact sheet, checked 29 October 2026. A scale there reads 2.36 times as much as on Earth. Read about it at three levels: Little, Middle and Big, and make your own Space Card.
Jupiter is the biggest planet. It is a giant ball of gas with stripes and a huge red storm. It spins very fast.
More than a thousand Earths could fit inside Jupiter. Its day is under ten hours, the shortest of any planet, and the Great Red Spot is a storm bigger than Earth that has blown for hundreds of years.
Jupiter is a gas giant with no solid surface to stand on, made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Its strong pull is 2.36 times Earth's at the cloud tops, and it has at least 95 moons, among them the four big ones Galileo saw in 1610.
Jupiter spins so fast that its middle bulges out.
Jupiter in numbers
| Across | 142,984 km |
|---|---|
| From the Sun | 778.5 million km |
| A day | 9.9 hours |
| A year | 11.9 Earth years |
| Pull of gravity | 2.36 times Earth's |
| Average temperature | -110 °C |
| Moons | 95 |
Source: NASA planetary fact sheet, checked 29 October 2026.
How big is Jupiter?
Jupiter is 142,984 kilometers across, 11 Earths wide. Jupiter is 779 million kilometers from the Sun, on average.
How hot or cold is Jupiter?
Jupiter averages -110 degrees Celsius, far colder than any freezer on Earth.
Does Jupiter have moons?
Jupiter has 95 moons by NASA's count, and the number can grow as telescopes find more.
Can I see Jupiter tonight?
Not in the evening, but yes before sunrise: south-east, 5 fists above the ground. Sky Tonight gives your own times from a ZIP.
How much would I weigh on Jupiter?
A child who weighs 80 pounds on Earth would read 189 pounds on Jupiter. That is a game number: it only shows how hard Jupiter pulls compared with Earth. Make your own Space Card to guess first and see all eleven worlds.