Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, a hydrogen-helium gas giant with no solid surface, rapid rotation, powerful atmospheric jet streams, an intense magnetic field, and a deep interior where pressure transforms hydrogen into unusual high-pressure phases. Jupiter provides a nearby laboratory for giant-planet meteorology, high-pressure matter, magnetic dynamos, atmospheric chemistry, and planet formation.
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Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, a hydrogen-helium gas giant with no solid surface, rapid rotation, powerful atmospheric jet streams, an intense magnetic field, and a deep interior where pressure transforms hydrogen into unusual high-pressure phases.
supportedJupiter emits more energy than it receives from the Sun because it still loses heat from formation and slow gravitational contraction.
supportedSpectroscopy reveals a hydrogen-helium atmosphere with trace compounds, spacecraft gravity measurements constrain the deep mass distribution, microwave observations probe below visible clouds, and magnetic-field measurements reveal a powerful magnetosphere.