Exploring the Outer Planets of the Solar System

The outer planets are also known as "gas giants" (Jupiter and Saturn) and "ice giants" (Uranus and Neptune), due to their compositions. adventtr / Getty Images. Venturing far beyond our terrestrial home, the enigmatic outer planets of our solar system await, shrouded in mystery. As we gaze upon their colossal sizes, mesmerizing rings, intriguing moons and

Solar system

· Solar system - Planets, Moons, Orbits: The eight planets can be divided into two distinct categories on the basis of their densities (mass per unit volume). The four inner, or terrestrial, planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars—have rocky compositions and densities greater than 3 grams per cubic cm. (Water has a density of 1 gram per cubic cm.) In contrast,

The Gas Giant Planets

Beyond the asteroid belt lies the outer Solar System. This region is dominated by four giant planets, which range in size from about four to ten times the diameter of Earth. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have massive gaseous atmospheres, so are often called gas giant planets. Because Jupiter dominates these planets, they are also referred to as Jovian planets.

The Different Types Of Planets

The Different Types Of Planets. Our solar system is home to eight planets, all of which are categorized between two different types of planet: rocky and gas giant.The four inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are all rocky planets.Meanwhile, the four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are all gas giants.The vast majority of planets

Gas giant

OverviewTerminologyClassificationExtrasolarPrecipitation and meteorological phenomenaSee also

A gas giant is a giant planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants of the Solar System. The term "gas giant" was originally synonymous with "giant planet". However, in the 1990s, it became known that Uranus and Neptune are really a distinct class of giant planets, being composed mainly of heavier volatile substances (which are referred to as "ices").

11.2: The Giant Planets

Basic Characteristics. The giant planets are very far from the Sun. Jupiter is more than five times farther from the Sun than Earth''s distance (5 AU), and takes just under 12 years to circle the Sun. Saturn is about twice as far away as Jupiter (almost 10 AU) and takes nearly 30 years to complete one orbit.

Solar System Facts

Our solar system includes the Sun, eight planets, five dwarf planets, and hundreds of moons, asteroids, and comets. The heliosphere is the bubble created by the solar wind – a stream of electrically charged gas blowing outward from the Sun in all directions. The boundary where the solar wind is abruptly slowed by pressure from

What is a Gas Giant?

A gas giant is a large planet mostly composed of helium and/or hydrogen. These planets, like Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system, don''t have hard surfaces and instead have swirling gases above a solid core. Gas giant exoplanets can be

Gas Giants | Planetary Formations | Space FM

As the inner planets formed from rock, gas from the Sun''s formation travelled further and the gas giants evolved by accreting more and more gas. Scientists have long theorised about their position in the solar system.

Steam Worlds: The Mystery of How Gas Giants Form

If the model described in my paper turns out to be viable, it will help us understand how the gas giant planets of the Solar System formed, and how and when giant planets form elsewhere. It may also help us to understand planet formation more generally, since we now have a fairly good estimate of what fraction of stars host giant planets to

Gas Giant Facts (The Outer Planets)

Gas giants are large planets that contain more than 10 times the mass of Earth, they are also known as the Jovian or Outer Planets. Their compositions are mostly gases, such as hydrogen, and small amounts of rocky material (mostly at their cores). The four gas giants in our solar

Early Solar System instability triggered by dispersal of the gaseous

The Solar System''s orbital structure is thought to have been sculpted by an episode of dynamical instability among the giant planets 1,2,3,4.However, the instability trigger and timing have not

What are Gas Giants? (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)

A gas giant is a gargantuan planet composed mainly of gases that include helium and hydrogen with a comparatively small rocky core. Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter are the gas giants of our solar system.The general belief is that these gas giants formed first as icy and rocky planets similar to the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

Gas Giant Facts for Kids

To qualify as a gas giant planet it must be of a larger size and made up of mostly gases, such as helium and hydrogen, and have a small rocky core. In our solar system, our four gas giants are also called "Jovian planets," named after Jupiter as they live in the outer orbits of the solar system. Gas Giant Statistics: Jupiter:

Exploring Jovian Planets, the Titans of Our Solar System

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are all terrestrial planets because they have compact, rocky surfaces. NASA/JPL. The solar system''s planets can be classified into three main types: terrestrial planets, gas giants and ice

Exploring Jovian Planets, the Titans of Our Solar System

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are all terrestrial planets because they have compact, rocky surfaces. NASA/JPL. The solar system''s planets can be classified into three main types: terrestrial planets, gas giants and ice giants.. The terrestrial planets are the four planets of the inner solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These planets are characterized by

7.2 Composition and Structure of Planets – Astronomy

Chapter 21 The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System. 21.0 Thinking Ahead. 21.1 Star Formation. 21.2 The H–R Diagram and the Study of Stellar Evolution the heavier elements sink toward the inner parts of a liquid or gaseous planet. Both Jupiter and Saturn, therefore, have cores composed of heavier rock

The Astrophysics Spectator: Giant Gaseous Planets in the Solar System

Planets Giant Gaseous Planets. The two giant gaseous planets of our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, are distinguished from the other planets in the Solar System by their composition and size.They have the same composition as the Sun, as is reflected in their densities, and they are two orders of magnitude more massive than Earth.But as large as they are, they are simply

Gas Giants: Facts about the 4 Outer (Jovian) Planets

A gas giant, also known as a jovian planet after the planet Jupiter, gaseous giant, or giant planet, is a large planet which has at least ten times the mass of Earth, located in the outer solar system.

The Nine Planets of The Solar System | Eight Planets Without Pluto

The 9 Planets in Our Solar System. Mercury. The Sun is the heart of our solar system and its gravity is what keeps every planet and particle in orbit. This yellow dwarf star is just one of billions like it across the Milky Way galaxy. Comets are snowballs made up of frozen gas, rock, and dust that orbit the Sun. As they get closer to

How Many Planets are in our Solar System? | Facts & Amount

A star that hosts planets orbiting around it is called a planetary system, or a stellar system, if more than two stars are present. Our planetary system is called the Solar System, referencing the name of our Sun, and it hosts eight planets.. The eight planets in our Solar System, in order from the Sun, are the four terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and

Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System is a gas giant with a mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined and slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. Its diameter is eleven times that of Earth, and a tenth that of the Sun. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm), with an orbital

Gas giants | What are, which are they, characteristics, examples

Astronomy Gas giants. The gas giant or gaseous planet as it is also known, is a large planet composed mainly of gases, such as hydrogen and helium, with a relatively small rocky nucleus.The gas giants of our solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.These four giant planets, also called jovial planets after Jupiter, reside in the outer part of our solar system