Jupiter is one of the brightest objects in the sky and one of the five planets in our solar system visible to the unaided eye.

Jupiter's familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.

Facts about Jupiter:

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It is a gas giant twice as massive as all the other planets combined.

The planet is believed to have 79 moons, 53 of which have been named. Jupiter has rings that are difficult to see, even with telescopes. The rings are composed of dark dust, possibly from its moons.  Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a hurricane-like storm that has been observed for more than 300 years.

Jupiter statistics:

• Distance from the sun: 795 million km (494 million mi)

• Diameter: 11.21 x Earth

• Mass: 317.8 x Earth

• Time for one full orbit ("year"): 11.9 Earth years

• Time for one full rotation ("day"): 9.9 Earth hours

• Has very energetic aurora