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Did you know you can use an inexpensive webcam to capture images of Jupiter and other objects in the night sky?

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Jupiter Facts
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  1. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun.
  2. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.
  3. Jupiter is more than twice the mass as all the other planets combined.
  4. The great red spot on Jupiter has been seen for more than 300 years
  5. Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky after the Sun, the Moon and Venus.
  6. Jupiter's four large moons are named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
  7. Jupiter radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun.
  8. Jupiter protects the earth from impacts. Without Jupiter nearby, long-period comets would collide with our planet up to 1000 times more frequently.
  9. In 1994 fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with the planet Jupiter
 
Jupiter was the supreme god in the Romans religion. While not really a person this is the god from which the planet got its name. Many of the jupiter's moons have been named after Jupiter's daughters.
 
Jupiter has 4 major moons and many other moons. The discovery of the four major moons by Galileo changed his and our view of the heavens. Watching them night after night and plotting their positions, he realized that they were orbiting the planet. This was an interesting proposition that would be considered controversial in his day. In Galileo's time it was believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that man was the most important being on this sacred planet.

Jupiter is one of the two most enjoyable and rewarding planets to view through a telescope. For most people, the first glimpse of Saturn is their most memorable, but for longevity of rewards, there is no equal to Jupiter. There is so much activity to see in Jupiter's atmosphere. Through a small telescope on a clear night you can see stripes on the celestial sphere. With more power, bands of color appear.

 
 
 

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