Jupiter is the “big brother” of the solar system in more ways than one. It’s more than twice as massive as all the other planets and moons combined. That makes its gravity especially strong, so it can push around the little guys. What’s more, Jupiter likely is the oldest of the Sun’s planets.

Like all the planets, Jupiter probably was born from a disk of gas and dust around the young Sun. It began to grow in the cold outer regions of the solar system. Bits of ice, rock, and metal stuck together. By the time the Sun was perhaps one or two million years old, Jupiter had already grown to about 20 times the mass of the present-day Earth.

Jupiter then began to gobble up vast amounts of gas. After another two or three million years, it was several dozen times Earth’s mass. It pulled in so much material that it cleared a wide gap in the disk around the Sun. And it blocked the stuff that was outside its orbit from drifting inward. That may have prevented the birth of anything more massive than Earth closer to the Sun.

Earth, by the way, wasn’t born until the Sun was about 50 million years old – a younger brother to giant Jupiter.

Look for Jupiter to the upper right of the Moon as they climb into view this evening. It looks like a brilliant star. The true star Aldebaran – the eye of the bull – is farther along that line. And fainter Elnath – the tip of the bull’s horn – is quite close above the Moon.

Script by Damond Benningfield