Which planet is the largest planet orbiting the Sun?

Jupiter is the largest planet orbiting the Sun. It is a gas giant with a diameter about 11 times Earth’s and a mass about 318 times Earth’s, making it more massive than all the other planets combined by roughly 2.5 times.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, between Mars and Saturn. Its enormous size comes mainly from hydrogen and helium, the same two elements that dominate the Sun, although Jupiter did not accumulate enough mass to become a star. It has no sharply defined solid surface; its atmosphere gradually becomes denser and hotter with depth.

A common mix-up is Saturn, which is famous for its spectacular rings but is smaller than Jupiter. Neptune is the third-most-massive planet, while Earth is a rocky terrestrial planet and is much smaller. Jupiter’s rapid rotation gives it a day lasting roughly 10 hours and contributes to its visibly flattened shape.

The planet also has a powerful magnetic field and four major moons—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—first observed telescopically by Galileo Galilei in 1610.