Hello again!

Are you ready for another adventure? On this page, we are off to Jupiter, so hop aboard your spaceship and let’s travel to the largest planet in our solar system.

Missed Mars? Click here to travel to the red planet.

First up, have a listen to India Friswell from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh as she talks about Jupiter and Holst’s music.

JUPITER, THE BRINGER OF JOLLITY

What did you learn from the video?

• Jupiter is the largest and oldest planet in the solar system, born about 4.5 BILLION years ago!
• It is a gas giant – the whole planet is made of gas, which means there is no solid surface. We wouldn’t be able to land our spaceship there, but we could look at the beautiful swirling shapes of the many storms that flow around the planet.
• There are 79 known satellites and moons that orbit around Jupiter. The four largest moons are known as the ‘Galilean Moons’ and they are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Every time scientists photograph the moon Io, the surface has changed due to over 400 volcanoes that erupt constantly.

LISTEN 🎧

Close your eyes and listen to Holst’s music for Jupiter. While you are listening, think about these questions –

• If the music was a colour – what colour would it be?
• If the music was a shape – what shape would it be?
• If the music was describing a line, would it be curvy and smooth, or spiky and jagged?

In this video, Jupiter was performed by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, many other recordings are available online through platforms such as youtubeand spotify.

ACTIVITY 🖌️🎨

• Find some paper and coloured pencils.
• Write down your answers to the questions above.
• If a creature could live on Jupiter, what would it look like? What would it need to be able to survive living on a gas giant?
• Use your ideas above and your answers to this question to draw your creature from Jupiter.

We would love to see what you come up with! Send it in to us here.

EXPLORE FURTHER 🧐

Look at our resources on The Planets 👇

• Additional music resources here.
• Download the Teacher Resource Pack here.
• Juno is a NASA mission currently flying around Jupiter. Take a look at some of the amazing photos the spaceship has taken during its mission here.