Explaining The Universe on Instagram: "Follow (us) @ExplainingTheUniverse to learn something NEW every day 🧠💫 Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, made mostly of hydrogen and helium with no solid surface. It’s known for its swirling storms, including the Great Red Spot, and its strong magnetic field. Surrounded by faint rings and at least 95 moons, Jupiter’s largest, Ganymede, is bigger than Mercury. The planet’s immense size and power make it a key object of study for understand

Explaining The Universe on Instagram: "Follow (us) @ExplainingTheUniverse to learn something NEW every day 🧠💫 Planets rotate because of the way they formed in the early solar system. Around 4.6 billion years ago, a huge cloud of gas and dust began to collapse under its own gravity, forming a spinning disk around the young Sun. As the material in this disk clumped together to form planets, the law of conservation of angular momentum kept that spin going—just like a figure skater spinning faster

Galaxies on Instagram: "A day on each planet is defined by how long it takes the planet to rotate once on its axis, and they vary dramatically across the solar system. Mercury spins slowly, so its day lasts about 59 Earth days. Venus rotates even more slowly and in the opposite direction, giving it the longest day of all—243 Earth days. Earth takes 24 hours. Mars rotates in about 24 hours and 37 minutes, making its day very close to ours. Jupiter spins the fastest, completing a rotation in just