# Jupiter

By [Macak](https://paragraph.com/@macak) · 2024-01-17

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**Jupiter** is the fifth [planet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet) from the [Sun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun) and the [largest in the Solar System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Solar_System_objects_by_size). It is a [gas giant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_giant) with a [mass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass) more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the [Solar System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System) combined, and slightly less than one one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 [AU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit) with an [orbital period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_period) of 11.86 [years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_year_\(astronomy\)). Jupiter is the [third brightest natural object](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_brightest_natural_objects_in_the_sky) in the [Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth)'s night sky after the [Moon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon) and [Venus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus), and it has been observed since [prehistoric times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_times). It was named after [Jupiter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_\(god\)), the chief deity of [ancient Roman religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_religion).

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*Originally published on [Macak](https://paragraph.com/@macak/jupiter)*