Astrophysics (Index)About

gas giant

(large planet made largely of gas)

A gas giant is a giant planet such as Jupiter or Saturn: massive and mostly gas, i.e., hydrogen and helium. Many discovered extra-solar planets are gas giants which is to be expected because larger planets are easier to detect.

The term gas giant is also used for the giant planets Uranus and Neptune, but the distinct term ice giant is also often used for them: they differ from Jupiter and Saturn, one of their differences being inclusion of a substantial amount of frozen volatiles.


(planet type,exoplanets,gas)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_giant
https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/G/gas+giant+planet
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/what-is-an-exoplanet/planet-types/gas-giant/
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/space_days/activities/gasGiants/aboutGasGiants.pdf

Referenced by pages:
accretion
acetylene (C2H2)
atmosphere
atmospheric escape
convection zone
core accretion model
electron degeneracy
extra-solar planet
failed binary
gas planet
Gemini Planet Imager (GPI)
giant planet
giant planet formation
GJ 1214 b
gravitational instability (GI)
gravitational instability model
HD 133131
hot Jupiter (HJ)
isothermal core
Jupiter
Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer (KPIC)
Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism (KH mechanism)
Kepler-1625b
Kepler-16b
mini-Neptune
normal mode
Planet Nine
planet structure
planet type
radiation zone
rocky planet
solar system
spectral class
super-Earth
zonal flow

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