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A giant planet, sometimes referred to as a jovian planet (Jove being another name for the Roman god Jupiter), is a diverse type of planet much larger than Earth. Giant planets are usually primarily composed of low-boiling point materials (), rather than rock or other solid matter, but massive solid planets can also exist.
The term gas giant was coined in 1952 by the science fiction writer James Blish [6] and was originally used to refer to all giant planets.It is, arguably, something of a misnomer because throughout most of the volume of all giant planets, the pressure is so high that matter is not in gaseous form. [7]
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Planets whose orbits lie within the orbit of Earth. [nb 1] Mercury and Venus: Inner planet: A planet in the Solar System that have orbits smaller than the asteroid belt. [nb 2] Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars: Outer planet: A planet in the Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, and hence refers to the gas giants. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune ...
The sizes are listed in units of Jupiter radii (R J, 71 492 km).This list is designed to include all planets that are larger than 1.6 times the size of Jupiter.Some well-known planets that are smaller than 1.6 R J (17.93 R 🜨 or 114 387.2 km) have been included for the sake of comparison.
Pages for logged out editors learn more. Contributions; Talk; Giant planets
The four giant planets have planetary rings, thin discs of tiny particles that orbit them in unison. [47] As a result of the formation of the Solar System, planets and most other objects orbit the Sun in the same direction that the Sun is rotating. That is, counter-clockwise, as viewed from above Earth's north pole. [48]
Earth is the largest terrestrial planet. [30] Giant planets are significantly more massive than the terrestrials: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. [30] They differ from the terrestrial planets in composition. The gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium and are the most massive planets in the Solar System.