The Night Sky's Wanderers - Jupiter

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Spectacular Jupiter, largest planet in the solar system, is as mysterious as it is beautiful. Classified as a gas giant, all we can see of it are its cloudtops. These swirling, exotic clouds are made up of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and water and are capable of generating lightning.

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/Cassini Project/NASA

One of Jupiter's most distinctive features, the Great Red Spot, is a giant storm that has been raging since at least the 17th century, when it was first observed by humans.

Credit: Voyager 2/NASA

Jupiter may have a rocky core; we don't know for sure. But most of its bulk comes from liquid metallic hydrogen - a form of hydrogen that only exists under extreme pressure.

Jupiter's rings were discovered during the Voyager 1 flyby in 1979. Apparently, two of the scientists on the Voyager team insisted that they look for rings, even though no one thought they would find any. And there they were. (The image below was taken by the Galileo spacecraft.)

Credit: NOAO/J. Burns (Cornell) et al./Galileo Project/JPL/NASA

I could go on with more facts about Jupiter, but let's face it - these planetary posts are really about the images. It can be hard to keep track of the news about the various spacecraft and each new set of dazzling images. By the time we finish with this tour of the solar system, you should be all caught up (at least for a little while!).