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Neptune's mass of 1.0243 × 10 26 kg [8] is intermediate between Earth and the larger gas giants: it is 17 times that of Earth but just 1/19th that of Jupiter. [ g ] Its gravity at 1 bar is 11.15 m/s 2 , 1.14 times the surface gravity of Earth, [ 71 ] and surpassed only by Jupiter. [ 72 ]
In the outer Solar System, hydrogen and helium are referred to as "gases"; water, methane, and ammonia as "ices"; and silicates and metals as "rocks". In this terminology, since Uranus and Neptune are primarily composed of ices, not gas, they are more commonly called ice giants and distinct from the gas giants.
Jupiter and Saturn are principally made of hydrogen and helium, whilst Uranus and Neptune consist of water, ammonia, and methane. The defining differences between a very low-mass brown dwarf and a massive gas giant (~13 M J) are debated. One school of thought is based on planetary formation; the other, on the physics of the interior of planets.
Neptune, for example, has an atmosphere made of hydrogen and helium (with just a tinge of methane), and it doesn’t really have a surface—or, at least, not what we think of as a surface.
Mini-Neptune: Also known as a gas dwarf or transitional planet. A planet up to 10 Earth masses, but less massive than Uranus and Neptune. Mini-Neptunes have thick hydrogen–helium atmospheres, probably with deep layers of ice, rock or liquid oceans (made of water, ammonia, a mixture of both, or heavier volatiles). Kepler-138d: Mega-Earth
Neptune is considered an "ice giant" because of its internal chemical composition. Unlike Jupiter and Saturn, the gas giants of the outer solar system, Neptune is richer in elements heavier than ...
New research unveils a surprising twist in the composition of our Solar System’s distant giants.
In the 1990s, it was determined that Uranus and Neptune were a distinct class of giant planet, separate from the other giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, which are gas giants predominantly composed of hydrogen and helium. [1] Neptune and Uranus are now referred to as ice giants. Lacking well-defined solid surfaces, they are primarily composed ...