Jupiter is the middle planet
And biggest planet of all
It is the fifth planet out from the Sun
And makes the rest
Seem rather small

Jupiter gets its name from
The Roman king of gods
And, considering how big it is
This doesn’t seem too odd

The diameter of Jupiter
Is 10-times greater than here—

Pretend the Earth’s diameter
Is just as long as your finger
Then Jupiter’s is as wide as…
You go figure!

Jupiter’s volume is the giant size
Now, if you can handle some simple math
You will see with your very own eyes
Jupiter can hold over 1,000 Earths
Isn't that a surprise?!

Looming large on the surface of Jupiter
There swirls the Great Red Spot
This spot is not a minor dot
At 26,000 kilometers long
And 13,000 wide—
If the Great Red Spot
Was a parking lot
A couple Earths could fit inside!

Jupiter is much more than
An oversized hydrogen gas balloon
It has its own celestial system
Of well over 60 moons!

Galileo, a great Renaissance guy
Built a telescope
So now we can see
Way out into the starry night
And peek deep into its mystery

So, Galileo was the very first
To see the biggest moons of Jupiter
Callisto, Europa, Io and Ganymede

These four moons
That Galileo did see
Are now the Galilean moons
All four now for you and for me

Today is a very exciting time for science
And all of human history

Like Saturn, Jupiter has
Its own set of rings

Jupiter also has winds
Of Herculean power
During Jupiter’s fast 10 hour day
They blow an incredible
500 kilometers per hour!

After learning all this
About giant Jupiter
There’s a lot you now understand
But if you plan to go there soon
Remember, it’s just a big ball of gas!
So where do you plan to land?!