With this ongoing Planetary Series to celebrate the finding of Proxima b, we're now on the king of the Solar System, Jupiter:

1) This planet is so huge that it would take about 11 Earths side-by-side to fill one diameter. However, despite being 1300 times the size of our home world, it's only 314 times the mass.

2) Gravity on the surface (if Jupiter had one), would be almost two and a half times greater than the surface gravity of Earth. That means a 100 pound individual here would weigh 250 pounds there!

3) Jupiter has a thin ring of material orbiting like Saturn's rings, but probably around 10,000 times more transparent than glass!

4) The four largest moons (now over 50+) were discovered 400 years ago by Galileo Galilee, and are named for him. One of the moons (Io) looks like a pizza because of the coloration of the volcanic material that erupts due to gravitational stress from Jupiter. Another moon (Ganymede) is larger than the planet Mercury, and yet another moon (Europa) likely has oceans under the icy surface that some scientists believe support life!

5) The gravity of Jupiter prevents the Asteroid Belt from forming into a planetary body, and likely prevented Mars from becoming as big as Venus or Earth!

6) The Great Red Spot is a hurricane two or three times bigger than Earth that has been raging for over three centuries!

7) Jupiter is composed of primarily Hydrogen and Helium gasses, and may have a solid core. Because of the gravity, the pressure rises quickly the deeper one gets, and this likely results in liquid hydrogen with properties that resemble metal deep within the planet!

8) Jupiter likely preserves life on Earth by capturing asteroids that could otherwise make us go the way of the dinosaurs!