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Planet · Outer System

Jupiter

The Weight of Jupiter

JupiterIoEuropaGanymedeCallisto
Jupiter and its 4 great moons. Drawn to be seen, not to scale: the order and the direction are real.

Jupiter: heavier than every other planet combined, spinning in ten hours, with a storm wider than Earth.

What the song is built on

  • Heavier than every other planet put together, two and a half times over
  • The Great Red Spot is a storm wider than Earth, watched for centuries
  • It spins once in about 10 hours, the fastest of all the planets
  • More than 90 moons circle it, four of them worlds in their own right

Established astronomy. The music is an interpretation of it — see the curatorial policy.

SoundMonumental orchestral with heavy timpani, low brass, massive choir, storm textures, slow and immense, 60 BPM, overwhelming grandeur

Lyrics
[Intro] Count the others. Add them up. I am heavier still. [Verse 1] Two and a half times the rest of them combined A world without a floor to land upon Hydrogen and helium going down forever Pressed to metal where the light is gone Ten hours to turn the whole of me around The fastest spin of all the eight A belt of cloud a thousand kilometres deep And a storm that will not abate [Chorus] Feel the weight of Jupiter The great red eye that never sleeps Wider than the world you're standing on A hurricane three hundred years deep [Verse 2] Ninety moons and more go round me Four of them are worlds in their own right Galileo found them turning in 1610 And the Earth fell out of the centre that night I catch the comets meant for you Shoemaker-Levy came apart on my face Call me the shield, call me the tyrant Either way, I hold this place [Bridge] Not a failed star. A finished giant. Everything here bends around me. [Final Chorus] Feel the weight of Jupiter The great red eye that never sleeps Wider than the world you're standing on A hurricane three hundred years deep [Outro] Count the others. Add them up. I am heavier still.

What goes round Jupiter

Solar System — 2026 Founding Edition — one of 30 songs.