Viral space video shows how fast Jupiter rotates and people can't believe it

Jupiter is known for being a giant planet made of gas, but many people on Twitter have learned just how fast it rotates and they can't quite believe it.

Dr. James O'Donoghue (@physicsJ) a planetary astronomer tweeted a video showing "Celestial objects to scale in size, rotation, speed and tilt."

The video shows how each of the planet speed of rotation and as the clip zoom out, viewers get a sense of how big planets like Uranus and Jupiter are - but were not prepared for just how rapid Jupiter's rotation speed is.

Let's just say if it was a race, at Jupiter's speed it would be miles ahead of the rest of them.

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Soon Dr. O'Donoghue's tweet went viral with over 100,000 likes as people reacted to this insightful video.

Then, Dr. O'Donoghue explained in a follow-up tweet the reason behind why Jupiter rotates so fast, "A day on Jupiter is 9hr 56min, it's the biggest and also fastest planet," he wrote.

"In the early solar system it grew from loads of Sun-orbiting material, converting the orbital momentum into spin angular momentum. Bigger planets are likely to be fast for this reason."

Well, it appears we've all learned something new as the Twittersphere reacted in shock at how fast the Gas Giant rotates - and of course shared some hilarious memes depicting Jupiter's speed.

Jaime Green (@jaimealyse) summed up everyone's thoughts when she tweeted: "Jupiter what the f***" and received 282,000 likes in the process.

Some people shared some funny popular culture references as to what Jupiter's spinning reminded them of, ranging from Homer Simpson, Britney Spears during one of her Instagram dance videos and Leslie Jordan's iconic baton-twirling video.

While others joked that Jupiter was showing off its speediness, that it was on drugs and another jested how its spinning represented their anxiety.

Elsewhere in related space news, scientists have been left scratching their heads after research over the course of 17 years on Neptune has found an "unexpected" change in the planet's temperature.

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