How Long Does it Take Jupiter to Orbit the Sun?
Written by Fraser Cain
Hubble Jupiter
Jupiter orbits much further from the Sun than the Earth, and so it takes longer to orbit the Sun. In fact, Jupiter takes 11.86 years (or 4332 days) to orbit the Sun. This is because Jupiter orbits the Sun at an average distance of 778 million km (while Earth only orbits at an average of 150 million km).
So if you were born on Jupiter, you would experience a birthday once for every 12 Earth years. If you're 12 now, you'd only be 1 on Jupiter. And if you were 36, you'd only be a 3-year old on Jupiter.
The axis of Jupiter is only slightly tilted compared to the tilt of the Sun. These means that its northern and southern hemispheres experience about the same amount of sunlight throughout Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. This is different from a planet like Earth, with an axial tilt of 23.5°. Our planet experiences seasons because our hemispheres experience different amounts of sunlight depending on our point in orbit.
We have written many articles about Jupiter for Universe Today. Here's an article about Jupiter's dueling red spots, and here's an article about a new impact on Jupiter.
If you'd like more information on Jupiter, check out NASA's World Book on Jupiter. And here's an article about Jupiter on the NASA Solar System Exploration Guide.
We have also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast about Jupiter. You can listen here, Episode 56: Jupiter.
Filed under: Astronomy
Tags: Jupiter, orbit of jupiter, planet jupiter
