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Gas giant

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:

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.

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