Jupiter is like the sun in a lot of ways. Jupiter, like all stars, is made of mostly hydrogen and helium. At the cloud tops, the temperature is cold, but it gets a lot warmer under the upper cloud layers. Scientists think that the core of Jupiter can be nearly up to 30,000°C, almost five times the temperature on the sun's surface. Scientists believe that if Jupiter was bigger gravity would cause nuclear fusion to occur and Jupiter would be a star.
All that can be seen of Jupiter's atmosphere from Earth is its thick cloud cover. These clouds, which look like bands of color are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Other gasses like ammonia and methane are also located in its atmosphere.
Unlike the inner planets, Jupiter has a small core that is solid. The clouds get denser toward Jupiter's core As they get denser, they might become an ocean of liquid hydrogen.

name of topic					Jupiter
diameter					142,000 kilometers
special features					Great red spot, huge magnetosphere
temperature extremes					29,700°C- -95°C
Gasses					H, He, CH4, NH4
distance from earth					628,000,000 kilometers
mass of topic					0.14% of mass in the solar system
any moons					28 (Nat'l Geographic World June 2001)

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