Jakarta, Borneo24.com – Some planets are dubbed the “Giant Planets” because they are much larger than the other planets. The four giants are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The giant planets are also known as “Jovian planets”.
The term Jovian comes from Jove, the king of the gods in Roman mythology and also the initial name of Jupiter. All the Jovian Planets were also known as “Gas Giants”, but Uranus and Neptune were later classified as “Ice Giants”. A gas and ice giant is a term for a planet whose composition consists mostly of ice and hydrogen gas.
Planets Composed Of Gas
Reporting from Science ABC, a gas giant can be defined as a planet whose original composition consists of gases, such as hydrogen and helium, with a small rocky core. As already mentioned, the planets whose composition is mostly gas are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
1. Planet Jupiter
The first and largest gas giant in the solar system is Jupiter, with a radius almost 11 times the size of Earth. Currently, Jupiter is known to have 50 moons and 17 more satellites that are awaiting confirmation from NASA. The planet is made mostly of hydrogen, methane, ammonia and helium surrounding a core made of rock and ice.
It is thought that most of Jupiter’s core is made of molten metallic hydrogen, which creates a large magnetic field around it.
2. Planet Saturn
The second largest gas planet is Saturn, which is about nine times the radius of Earth. Saturn’s first distinctive feature is its massive rings, which remain a mystery to the scientific community as to the process of their formation. Saturn has 53 moons with nine more months awaiting confirmation from NASA. Saturn also contains a composition similar to Jupiter’s, namely hydrogen and helium, as well as a core identical to Jupiter’s.
3. Planet Uranus
The third gas planet, Uranus, has a radius about four times that of Earth. The unusual thing about Uranus is that it rotates on its side, and rotates backwards; the only other planet to veer in this direction is Venus. According to NASA, the planet has 27 moons, and the composition of Uranus’ atmosphere is hydrogen, helium and ammonium.
4. Planet Neptune
The last gas planet in the solar system is Neptune, which also has a radius four times the radius of Earth. Neptune has 13 confirmed natural satellites and one is awaiting confirmation from NASA. According to NASA, Neptune’s atmosphere is the same as Uranus, which is made up of hydrogen, helium, and ammonium.
Planet Made of Ice
Ice giants are massive planets composed mostly of substances heavier than helium and hydrogen. The planets that are mostly made up of ice, namely Uranus and Neptune, consist mainly of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur.
Neither Uranus nor Neptune have deep metallic hydrogen mantles, such as those found on Jupiter and Saturn, and they are mostly ice. As a result, these large planets are known as ice giants, to distinguish them from the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn.
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