A gas giant is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter.
Gas giants may have a rocky or metallic core—in fact, such a core is thought to be required for a gas giant to form—but the majority of its mass is in the form of the gases hydrogen and helium, with traces of water, methane, ammonia, and other hydrogen compounds.
Unlike rocky planets, which have a clearly defined difference between atmosphere and surface, gas giants do not have a well-defined surface; their atmospheres simply become gradually denser toward the core, perhaps with liquid or liquid-like states in between.
One cannot "land on" such planets in the traditional sense.
There are four gas giants in our solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune..
For more information about the topic Gas giant, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Red giant A red giant is a large non-main sequence star of stellar classification K or M; so-named because of the reddish appearance of the cooler giant stars. ... >
read more
Asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a region of the solar system falling roughly between the planets Mars and Jupiter where the greatest concentration of asteroid ... >
read more
Planet The International Astronomical Union defines "planet" as a celestial body that, within the Solar System that is in orbit around the Sun; has ... >
read more
Great Red Spot on Jupiter The Great Red Spot is a persistent anticyclonic storm on the planet Jupiter, 22 degrees south of the equator, which has lasted at least 340 years. ... >
read more
Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Gas giant at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details.