Floating through the clouds at Jupiter’s equator sounds like a celestial carnival ride. The equator spins at about 28,000 miles per hour – 28 times faster than Earth’s equator. So the Sun, moons, and stars would zip across the sky in a hurry.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system – 11 times Earth’s diameter. It also spins faster than any other planet – so fast that it bulges outward at the equator. At that speed, a day on Jupiter is less than 10 hours long. So the equator always sees about five hours of daylight followed by five hours of darkness.

It might not sound right, but Jupiter spins so fast because it’s so big. As it swept up more material while it was taking shape, gravity compressed it, making it smaller. The planet had to spin faster to balance the books – like a skater spinning faster as it pulls in its arms.

Some studies have suggested that Jupiter might actually have been slowed down early on by its magnetic field. The young planet was encircled by a disk of gas and dust that gave birth to its moons. As the gas swirled through the magnetic field, some of it developed an electric charge. The charged-up gas grabbed on to the field, acting like a brake – slowing down the solar system’s biggest and still fastest planet.

Jupiter looks like a brilliant star below the Moon at dawn tomorrow. The twin stars of Gemini are closer to the left and lower left of the Moon.

Script by Damond Benningfield