Topic summary
Mass of Jupiter
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Jupiter mass.
Gravitational constant
The mass of Jupiter is derived from the measured value called the Jovian mass parameter, which is denoted with GMJ. The mass of Jupiter is calculated by dividing GMJ by the constant G. For celestial bodies such as Jupiter, Earth and the Sun, the value of the GM product is known to many orders of magnitude more precisely than either factor independently. The limited precision available for G limits the uncertainty of the derived mass. For this reason, astronomers often prefer to refer to the gravitational parameter, rather than the explicit mass. The GM products are used when computing the ratio of Jupiter mass relative to other objects.