HISTORY ONLINE

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and is the largest one in the solar system. If Jupiter were hollow, more than one thousand Earths could fit inside. It also contains more matter than all of the other planets combined. It has a mass of 1.9 x 1027 kg and is 142,800 kilometers (88,736 miles) across the equator. Jupiter possesses 28 know satellites, four of which - Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io - were observed by Galileo as long ago as 1610. Another 12 satellites have been recently discovered and given provisional designators until they are officially confirmed and named. There is a ring system, but it is very faint and is totally invisible from the Earth. (The rings were discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1.) The atmosphere is very deep, perhaps comprising the whole planet, and is somewhat like the Sun. It is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of methane, ammonia, water vapor and other compounds. At great depths within Jupiter, the pressure is so great that the hydrogen atoms are broken up and the electrons are freed so that the resulting atoms consist of bare protons. This produces a state in which the hydrogen becomes metallic.

Jupiter was the king of the gods and the ruler of the universe in Roman mythology. Jupiter had the same powers as the Greek god Zeus. Jupiter was the son of Saturn, the ruler of the universe. Jupiter and the other children of Saturn overthrew him and Jupiter took Saturn's place. Jupiter's brothers were the gods Neptune and Pluto. His sisters were the goddesses Ceres, Juno, and Vesta. Jupiter married Juno, who became queen of the gods. The religious center of Rome was Jupiter's temple on the Capitoline Hill. The temple had shrines to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Originally, the Romans worshiped Jupiter as the god of the sky and of such atmospheric phenomena as thunder and lightning. He used a thunderbolt as a weapon and had the power to send the earth clear weather, rain, or destructive storms. Jupiter's symbols were the royal scepter and the thunderbolt. Jupiter is a zodiac planet playing important role in european and chinese astrologies.