About Jupiter, the Most Successful Planet in the Neighborhood

Hello, my name is Jupiter, and I am a victorious planet.

I have four wives Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io, 60 children and 3 adopted kids. I am also the most popular in the neighborhood and most successful in my field of work.

When I purchased the piece of territory where I decided to build my life, I made a good deal with my landlord, the Sun. He can be pretty obnoxious sometimes, but really helpful when needed, so I took the parcel that was far enough to keep me out of harm’s way, but close enough to enjoy the benefits of the Sun. The benefits of the deal didn’t show off at the beginning, but later on, the minerals of my terrain led to my growth in size and popularity. Now, the neighbors closer to the Sun, Mars, Terra, Venus and Mercury suffer the consequences of parking too close to the landlord. Because of the constant pressure of the Sun they weren’t able to cultivate their properties well, they remained limited to the boundaries set up by the owner. Some of them have wives, but none of them have children.

The dwarf planets like me because they are the ones that most often receive my protection. Sometimes, hooligan intruders come to our street trying to reach the Sun, and they vandalize everything in their path. I always do my best to intercept them and teach them a harsh lesson. The latest attempt to vandalize our neighborhood was in 1994, when a comet named Shoemaker-Levy raced towards the Sun. I used my atmosphere to stop him, but it wasn’t enough. Shoemaker-Levy was a stubborn comet, and my atmosphere had just thorn it in pieces and speeded it up to encounter me. I wasn’t about to give up, but neither was Shoemaker-Levy. The dwarf planets watched closely as Shoemaker-Levy went down in a blaze of glory, they calmed down when they saw that the intruder was defeated.

The neighbors further away - Uranus, Neptune and the tiny Pluto – didn’t hit it off with the Sun. They found his dominative and bossy qualities too much to bear and moved as far away from the Sun as possible. They didn’t benefit from the Sun’s heat, which eventually led them to become cold and lonely.

I persuaded my best friend, Saturn, to move right next to me. He followed my advice, and he is very contented with his decision. We are very similar in many ways, we both worked very hard to be where we are today, but Saturn is more outgoing. This is why he has seven wives Iapetus, Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Mimas and 50 children.

Lately I have been receiving visits from one of my neighbor’s spies. This neighbor, Terra, was infested with bacteria four billion years ago, which has evolved to interesting life forms. I cannot help feeling guilty for this, because the bacterium most likely arrived to Terra trough one of the comet intruders I failed to stop. However, the evolution of Terra since the infestation was unique and very interesting. If this comet hadn’t hit the Earth, it would surely be a dull planet now.

My wife Io, also nurtures bacteria, we are open-minded about the life form exchange program and we encourage it. Terra hasn’t made up its mind about the program yet, but in a little time, like 100 years or so it will come around.

For a better inside on our Solar System please visit Wikipedia.