Last night I found myself pondering Jupiter as it shone so brightly in the eastern sky. It got me thinking about how amazing it is that I can even see it. It’s somewhere between about 365 million miles and 600 million miles away from the earth. That’s a long ways. It takes light from the sun about an hour and a half to reach Jupiter and then back to us (more or less, depending on where we are in our orbit compared to where Jupiter is in its orbit). All of that got me wondering just how big it is. So, here are some comparisons. The diameter of Jupiter is about 11 times that of Earth. It has a mass which is about 317 times that of Earth. And in terms of volume, 1,300 Earths could fit inside Jupiter, with room to spare. I can’t really wrap my head around those kind of numbers, but it’s fun to ponder from time to time. And there it is, just hanging up there in the night sky, shining oh so beautifully. The Universe is an amazing place to live and it leaves me in awe!