Gas giant

:This article refers to a astronomical phenomenon. For the rock band, see Gas Giants

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A gas giant is a large planet that is not composed mostly of rock or other solid matter. Gas giants may still have a rocky or metallic core—in fact, it is expected that such a core is probably required for a gas giant to form—but the majority of its mass is in the form of gas (or gas compressed into a liquid state). Unlike rocky planets, gas giants do not have a well-defined surface. Terms like diameter, surface area, volume, surface temperature and surface density may refer to the outermost layer visible from outside, e.g. from the Earth.

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There are four gas giants in our solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These are also known as the Jovian planets.

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Uranus and Neptune have been referred by scientists in the past as a separate subclass of giant planets, ice giant or Uranian planets due to their structure made mostly of ice and rock and gas, which differs from the "traditional" gas giant such as Jupiter or Saturn. This is because their proportion in hydrogen and helium is much lower than the latter's, mostly because of their greater distance from the Sun.

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Planet: A planet in common parlance is a large object in orbit around a star that is not a star itself. The name comes from the Greek term πλανήτης, planētēs, meaning "wanderer", as ancient astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky in relatio...

Rock: Rock may refer to:...

Matter: Matter is commonly referred to as the substance of which physical objects are composed. In physics, it is everything that is constituted of elementary fermions. Philosophically, matter constitutes the formless substratum of all things, which exists only potentially and from which reality is produced...

Gas giant related Images and Photos (experimental)

Gas-Giant Exoplanet Transiting Across the Face of Its Star	First Rays of a Rising Star Reveal the Distant Gas-Giant Planet Above the Horizon	Giant	Giant Calla
Giant Panda	Giant Cakes	Giant Tulips	Giant Insect
Giant Portrait	Giant Snowball	Giant Behemoth, The	Giant Peony I