Why is the sun heavier than jupiter?
961908
Chance.\n\nMany stars in the galaxy are part of binary systems.  As the gaseous nebula that forms a solar system collapses, the mass can distribute in many ways.  The Sun got the majority of the mass, and Jupiter carries much of the residual mass of the solar system (2.5x the mass of the other planets).  If more mass had gone to Jupiter, we might be in a binary solar system.  If the majority of the mass went to Jupiter, it would be the Sun, and vice versa.
682846
Jupiter is the largest planet orbiting our Sun.
85550
All the other known planets in our solar system would fit inside Jupiter with room left over --\n\nThe Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a hurricane-like storm with a diameter three times that of Earth --\n\nJupiter's chemical composition is the same as that of stars --\n\nIf Jupiter had about 100 times more mass it would have been a star --\n\nJupiter radiates heat into space from its interior, but the source isn't completely understood
651719
Mass.\n\nStuff which weighs a lot sucks other stuff towards it.\n\nIt's the sun's mass which keeps the Earth from flying off in a straight line into space.\n\nAnd it's the Earth's mass which pulls us towards its centre.
180202
Neither. It's the mass of the planet itself. Everything that has mass projects a gravitational field. The more massive an object is, the bigger its gravitational "pull". This is why objects like the Sun can support several large planets, while Pluto (which has a moon about a third the size of it) gets pulled around by its moon.
924812
The mass of the sun is 330,000 times that of the earth. It is about half again as dense as water.
344795
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and is the largest one in the solar system. If Jupiter were hollow, more than one thousand Earths could fit inside. It also contains more matter than all of the other planets combined. It has a mass of 1.9 x 1027 kg and is 142,800 kilometers (88,736 miles) across the equator. Jupiter possesses 28 known satellites, four of which - Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io - were observed by Galileo as long ago as 1610. Another 12 satellites have been recently discovered and given provisional designators until they are officially confirmed and named. There is a ring system, but it is very faint and is totally invisible from the Earth. (The rings were discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1.) The atmosphere is very deep, perhaps comprising the whole planet, and is somewhat like the Sun. It is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of methane, ammonia, water vapor and other compounds. At great depths within Jupiter, the pressure is so great that the hydrogen atoms are broken up and the electrons are freed so that the resulting atoms consist of bare protons. This produces a state in which the hydrogen becomes metallic. \nColorful latitudinal bands, atmospheric clouds and storms illustrate Jupiter's dynamic weather systems. The cloud patterns change within hours or days. The Great Red Spot is a complex storm moving in a counter-clockwise direction. At the outer edge, material appears to rotate in four to six days; near the center, motions are small and nearly random in direction. An array of other smaller storms and eddies can be found through out the banded clouds. \n\nAuroral emissions, similar to Earth's northern lights, were observed in the polar regions of Jupiter. The auroral emissions appear to be related to material from Io that spirals along magnetic field lines to fall into Jupiter's atmosphere. Cloud-top lightning bolts, similar to superbolts in Earth's high atmosphere, were also observed.
602001
Probably not. The Solar system is a system in balance. The Sun's gravity keeps the orbits of the planets stable. Gravitational attraction between the planets also effects their orbits, exerting the same force as the Moon exerts on the Earth's oceans. The gas giants, especially Jupiter can\ncreate "tides" that can tear a smaller planet to pieces, over time. There once was a "theory" that the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter, consists of pieces of a planet called, I believe, Vulcan. If Mars WASN'T there, the\nearth would probably be located farther out from the Sun.\nVulcan might not have broken up, and would be orbiting a little closer to the Sun, but not as close as Mars. Bottom line: Earth, outside the "comfort zone" would probably be TOO COLD to sustain life.\n\nMoral of the story? Things are the way they are for a reason.
44971
There are many reasons.\nHere are a couple:\n\nThe temperature,\nThe matter that the sun is comprised of\nCheck out http://science.howstuffworks.com/sun.htm
170430
I think - not sure just think- the sun is much bigger?!!!!\n\nand it is made of gas, helium! \nandddd it's so hot!
826306
Because although the moon is as big as a planet, it does not have the characteristics of a planet. Jupiter's moon is a moon because it displays characteristics of a moon, like orbiting Jupiter and being stuck into Juptier's gravational pull.
530735
two reasons, gravity and angular momentum.  Gravity tends to pull matter into one centralized spot, but angular momentum must be conserved.  That mass that escaped being part of the sun attracted mass to centralized locations, what became the planets, flattening things out to a disk shape
772523
No.  The reason is a bit complex for someone not already familiar with the conservation of rotational inertia.  But the short answer is that Jupiter is probably moving very, very slowly away from the Sun.  Our moon is moving very, very slowly away from the Earth.  Each body that has satellites has what is called a "Roche limit".  Jupiter and Earth would be outside of the Sun's Roche limit so they will move slowly farther away.  Our moon is outside Earth's Roche limit and will move slowly farther away.   Mars is pretty cool.  Mars has 2 very small moons.  One, Diemos, is farther away from Mars and outside its Roche limit.  It will also continue to move farther away ever so slowly.  But the other moon, Phobos, is a bit closer and inside of Mars' Roche limit.  It will ever so slowly move closer to Mars until it spirals down and eventually collides.  COOL, huh?
55579
The sun is a giant ball of plasma constantly fusing hydrogen into helium.  It is not 'on fire', so to speak, so the lack of oxygen and the coldness of space don't effect it like a match or something.
953138
Gravity, because the sphere is the most economical shape in the universe.  It holds the most mass in the smallest area.  It is why planets have their shape as well, I was not aware that Nuclear fusion had any effect on the shape of the sun...\n\nmay you forever learn and forever ask
436928
If the Earth's radius were bigger, and the mass of it stayed the same, then you would weigh lighter.  That's because with a bigger radius, you're farther away from the centre of gravity, therefore less pull.  If the mass change, then the situation would be different.
517320
The sun is spherical for the same reason most large astronomical bodies are spherical - gravity. \n\nGravity will pull equally on all parts of a body, so every part of it will try to get as close to the center as possible.  As astronomical bodies form and coalesce, they move closer to the center until the opposing pressure (for example, from being solid like the earth, or the pressure of nuclear radiation as is found in the sun) equals the force of gravity.  Since every part of the sun is trying to collapse in equally, every part of the sun's (earth's, other planets', other stars') becomes equidistant from the center.  Which is the definition of a sphere!\n\nNote that not all astronomical bodies are perfect spheres, though!  Small objects - say, like the moons of Mars - don't have enough gravity to pull themselves into a spherical shape.  And some bodies have other forces coming into play.  For example, Jupiter is spinning so fast (once every 10 hours) that it bulgest out 4,300 km at it's equator due to centrifugal force.  This happens with the earth, too - the earth is 22 km fatter at its equator due to centrifugal force.