An aeroplane travelling at 500 m.p.h. would take 90 years to reach Jupiter, the largest of planets. Its diameter is 88,000 miles and its bulk 1,250 times that of the Earth. It is 300 times heavier than the Earth. Jupiter takes nearly 12 years to complete its elliptic orbit around the Sun at a mean distance of 483,000,000 miles. Its surface is cloud-covered so cannot be seen, and it rotates on its axis in 9 hrs. 50 mins. Two of Jupiter's moons exceed Mercury in size and were first thought to be fixed stars not connected with the planet.
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