Jupiter designed the solar system. Here’s what the planet was like as a child.

Jupiter, the largest planet orbiting the sun, used to be much bigger and stronger when the solar system was just beginning to take shape, a pair of astronomers say. 

Two scientists at Caltech and the University of Michigan suggest that early Jupiter was at least double its contemporary size. The primitive version of the gas giant could have held some 8,000 Earths within it, said Konstantin Batygin, lead author of the new study.  

What’s more, young Jupiter probably had a magnetic field 50 times more powerful. A magnetic field is an invisible force surrounding a planet that interacts with charged particles coming from the sun and cosmic rays.

To calculate those measurements, the scientists looked at how Jupiter’s moons move through space and how the planet spins. This unconventional approach, which didn’t rely on traditional models, may fill gaps in the solar system’s history. Many scientists refer to Jupiter as the “architect” of the solar system because its immense gravity influenced the orbits of other planets and carved up the cloud from which they all emerged.