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Gas giant

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Gas giants: from top - Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter
Gas giants: from top - Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter

The term gas giant refers to the four largest planets in the solar system. They are called, in order of their distance to the sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Gas giants are also the largest known type of planet in the universe. From current observations they are largely composed of gas and liquid. On account of their thick atmospheres and their distances from Earth, astronomers do not know whether the gas giants have a solid surface like the terrestrial planets.

Other gas giants ("hot Jupiters") may also exist outside of the solar system, and are believed by a number of astronomers to be of sufficient size to be detectable from Earth. Reports of gas giants in other star systems have already appeared in the astronomical and astrophysical literature.

Contents

Formation and Age

Main Article: Nebula hypothesis

As with most phenomena, evolutionists assert that gas giants take millions of years to form, and ridicule the authors of young-earth models for thinking any differently. But recent observations and theories suggest that these planets don't take nearly as long to form as previously thought.[1] In fact the theories actually help explain the relative abundance of gas giants.

Table

List of gas giants, from the innermost to the outermost:
Name Perihelion Aphelion Eccentricity Sidereal year Inclination Mass Sidereal day
Jupiter 7405200000004.95 AU740,520,000 km
460,137,795.276 mi
8166200000005.459 AU816,620,000 km
507,424,143.005 mi
0.048390.0484 4330.58662511.857 a4,330.587 da 0.0227765467385261.305 °0.0228 rad
1.45 grad
1.8987E+27317.721 M⊕1.8987e+27 kg
1 M♃
357309.925 h0.414 da
Saturn 13525500000009.041 AU1.35255e+9 km
840,435,606.061 mi
151450000000010.124 AU1.5145e+9 km
941,066,670.643 mi
0.05650.0565 10759.2229.457 a10,759.22 da 0.0433714319120592.485 °0.0434 rad
2.761 grad
5.6846E+2695.124 M⊕5.6846e+26 kg
0.299 M♃
38361.610.656 h0.444 da
Uranus 274130000000018.324 AU2.7413e+9 km
1.70336e+9 mi
300362000000020.078 AU3.00362e+9 km
1.86636e+9 mi
0.04570.0457 30681.6153001584.002 a30,681.615 da 0.0129852496348380.744 °0.013 rad
0.827 grad
8.6832E+2514.53 M⊕8.6832e+25 kg
0.0457 M♃
-62064-17.24 h-0.718 da
Neptune 444445000000029.709 AU4.44445e+9 km
2.76165e+9 mi
454567000000030.386 AU4.54567e+9 km
2.82455e+9 mi
0.01130.0113 60189.5475164.79 a60,189.548 da 0.030874874467781.769 °0.0309 rad
1.966 grad
1.0243E+2617.14 M⊕1.0243e+26 kg
0.0539 M♃
5799616.11 h0.671 da

Reference

  1. Graham, Sarah. "New Model Hints at Quick Formation of Gas Giants." Scientific American, December 2, 2002. Accessed June 19, 2008.

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