Solar System moons. The centaurs and many short-period comets also orbit in this region. Due to their greater distance from the Sun, the solid objects in the outer Solar System contain a higher proportion of volatiles, such as water, ammonia, and methane than those of the inner Solar System because the lower temperatures allow these compounds to remain solid. The four outer planets, or giant planets (sometimes called Jovian planets), collectively make up 99% of the mass known to orbit the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn are together more than 400 times the mass of Earth and consist overwhelmingly of hydrogen and helium.
Solar eclipses on Jupiter the variations were caused by the varying distance between Earth and Jupiter as the two planets moved in their orbits around the Sun. Spacecraft can be used to observe the solar eclipses on Jupiter; these include "Pioneer 10" and "Pioneer 11" (1973 and 1974), "Voyager 1" and "Voyager 2" (1979), "Galileo" orbiter (1995–2003), "Cassini–Huygens" (2000) and "New Horizons" (2007) observed the transits of their moons and its shadows. The mean angular diameter of the Sun as viewed from Jupiter is 372 arc-seconds, or 6' 12" (about that of the Sun as viewed from Earth), varying slightly from 381" at perihelion