Discover Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is also one of the
brighter objects in the night sky. No one knows for sure who
discovered Jupiter, but we know the ancient Greeks named him
after the god, Zeus.

The most famous feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot. This
violent storm has been watched from Earth since the 1600's. But it
wasn't until the 1930's that we knew what Jupiter was made of.
Astronomer Rupert Wildt researched the planet and found the
atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium.

Beginning in 1973, the United States sent four spacecraft to

observe this giant planet. Pioneer 10 and 11, along with Voyager I
and II, sailed past Jupiter. They gathered many images that we still
This image of Jupiter was taken by Voyage I. see today.
Click on image for full size (16K JPG)
Courtesy of NASA
Jupiter's moons are too! Galileo discovered four of the larger
moons: Io, Europe, Ganymede and Callisto in 1610. Most of the other moons were found by the Voyager
spacecraft during its flyby.