3 Jovian/Gas Giant Planets
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun, but two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined.
Radius: 69,911 km
Distance from Sun: 778.5 million km
Mass: 1.898 × 10^27 kg (317.8 M⊕)
Gravity: 24.79 m/s²
Orbital period: 12 years
Moons: Europa, Ganymede, Io, Callisto, Amalthea, Himalia, MORE
Unique characteristics: Jupiter is covered in swirling cloud stripes. It has big storms like the Great Red Spot, which has been going for hundreds of years. Jupiter is a gas giant and doesn't have a solid surface, but it may have a solid inner core about the size of Earth. Jupiter also has rings, but they're too faint to see very well.
Jupiter's Magnetosphere: The stronger the magnetic field, the larger the magnetosphere. Some 20,000 times stronger than Earth's magnetic field, Jupiter's magnetic field creates a magnetosphere so large it begins to avert the solar wind almost 3 million kilometers before it reaches Jupiter.
Rules: Jupiter governs long distance and foreign travel, big business and wealth, higher education, religion, and the law. It is also associated with the urge for freedom and exploration, as well with gambling and merrymaking.
Lowest temperature: The temperature in the clouds of Jupiter is about minus 145 degrees Celsius (minus 234 degrees Fahrenheit).
Rings of Jupiter: The planet Jupiter has a system of rings known as the rings of Jupiter or the Jovian ring system. It was the third ring system to be discovered in the Solar System, after those of Saturn and Uranus.
Moons: 79
Since 2020, Jupiter has 79 confirmed moons orbiting it. The four most famous moons, the Galilean Moons, are among the biggest moons in the Solar System. However, Jupiter isn't the King of the Moons; it doesn't have the most natural satellites. This title belongs to Saturn, who currently hosts 82 natural satellites.
Atmosphere: Jupiter is called a gas giant planet. Its atmosphere is made up of mostly hydrogen gas and helium gas, like the sun. The planet is covered in thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds. The clouds make the planet look like it has stripes.
Jupiter's Role: In our own solar system, Jupiter, with its enormous gravitational field, plays an important protective role. By deflecting comets and asteroids that might otherwise hit Earth, Jupiter has helped to create a more stable environment for life to evolve here.
Jupiter hurricane: Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm that's about twice as wide as Earth, circling the planet in its southern hemisphere. At the storm's center, winds are relatively calm, but on its edges, wind speeds reach 270-425 mph (430-680 km/h).
Questions:Will the storm on Jupiter ever stop?
Answer: At the present rate of reduction, it would become circular by 2040. It is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the change is a result of normal fluctuations. In 2019, the Great Red Spot began "flaking" at its edge, with fragments of the storm breaking off and dissipating.
Age: 4.503 billion years
Diameter: 139,820 km
Name Origin: Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Fittingly, it was named after the king of the gods in Roman mythology. In a similar manner, the ancient Greeks named the planet after Zeus, the king of the Greek pantheon.
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine times that of Earth. It only has one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive.
Distance from Sun: 1.434 billion km
Orbital period: 29 years
Radius: 58,232 km
Age: 4.503 billion years
Mass: 5.683 × 10^26 kg (95.16 M⊕)
Moons: Titan, Enceladus, Mimas, Tethys, Dione, Iapetus, Hyperion, MORE
Magnetic field: Forces deep inside Saturn create a giant magnetic bubble around the planet, called the magnetosphere, which exerts a powerful influence on the space environment near the planet. Saturn's magnetic field is created as material cycles deep within the planet's fluid interior.
Wind: A windy day on Earth is no comparison to a windy day on Saturn. The ringed planet is home to terrifying winds that can top 1,100 mph (1,800 kph). NASA describes them as "some of the fastest in the solar system." A Cassini image released Monday shows what those winds do to Saturn's atmosphere.
Number of Moon: Saturn has 82 moons. Fifty-three moons are confirmed and named and another 29 moons are awaiting confirmation of discovery and official naming. Saturn's moons range in size from larger than the planet Mercury — the giant moon Titan — to as small as a sports arena.
Temperature: With an average temperature of minus 288 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 178 degrees Celsius), Saturn is a pretty cool planet. Although there are some small differences as one travels from the equator to the poles, much of Saturn's temperature variation is horizontal.
Saturn storm: Cassini scientists found that Saturn's seasonal storm, also known as the Great White Spot, kicks up water vapor and other materials up from as deep as 100 miles (160 kilometers) below the cloud tops. The vapor freezes on its way up.
Wind speed of Storm:530 kmph
The wind speeds on the outer edge of Saturn's hurricane range up to 530 kmph (330 mph). In the center eye of the storm they are four times faster than the fastest recorded winds on Earth, these being the winds of hurricane Camille that hit the United States in 1996 that measured up to roughly 305 kph (190 mph).
Atmosphere: Saturn is approximately 75% hydrogen and 25% helium with traces of other substances like methane and water ice.
Diameter: 116,460 km
Age: 4.503 billion years
Name origin: Saturn is named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture; its astronomical symbol (♄) represents the god's sickle. The Romans named the seventh day of the week Saturday, Sāturni diēs ("Saturn's Day") no later than the 2nd century for the planet Saturn.
Rings: Rings. Saturn's rings are thought to be pieces of comets, asteroids or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet, torn apart by Saturn's powerful gravity. They are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock coated with another material such as dust.
Speed: 9.68 km/s
With an average orbital speed of 9.68 km/s, it takes Saturn 10,759 Earth days (or about 29 1⁄2 years) to finish one revolution around the Sun.
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus, who, according to Greek mythology, was the grandfather of Zeus and father of Cronus. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System.
Distance from Sun: 2.871 billion km
Orbital period: 84 years
Radius: 25,362 km
Named after: the Latin form Ūranus of the Greek god Οὐρανός Ouranos
Discoverer: William Herschel
Moons: Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Miranda, Ariel, Puck, Desdemona, MORE
Zodiac sign: Uranus in the Birth Chart
Uranus is known in astrology as the "Awakener," since its aspects and transits bring sudden changes and shocks. It rules Aquarius, the quirky innovator, and sometimes these upheavals are a necessary break from restrictions in favor of a more liberated path.
Interesting Facts About Uranus
*Uranus is known as the "sideways planet" because it rotates on its side.
*Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel.
*Uranus was the first planet found using a telescope.
*Uranus is an Ice Giant planet and nearly four times larger than Earth.
Max temp: Unlike other gas giants, Uranus most likely boasts a rocky core rather than a gaseous one. Temperatures inside it may reach 8,540 F (4,727 C), which sounds warm but is cooler than other planets — Jupiter's core may reach 43,000 F (24,000 C).
Atmosphere: Uranus' atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of methane and traces of water and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus its signature blue color.
Moons: 27
Age: 4.503 billion years
Ring: Uranus has two sets of rings. The inner system of nine rings consists mostly of narrow, dark grey rings. There are two outer rings: the innermost one is reddish like dusty rings elsewhere in the solar system, and the outer ring is blue like Saturn's E ring.
Name origin: Ultimately, German astronomer Johann Elert Bode (whose observations helped to establish the new object as a planet) named Uranus after an ancient Greek god of the sky. Bode argued that as Saturn was the father of Jupiter, the new planet should be named for the father of Saturn.
Uranus rain: Deep within Neptune and Uranus, it rains diamonds—or so astronomers and physicists have suspected for nearly 40 years. The outer planets of our Solar System are hard to study, however. ... Beyond the lingering mystery of the diamond rain, there's a big loss in our failure to study Uranus and Neptune inside and out.
Uranus storms: "Huge storms spotted on Uranus and Neptune"
"Uranus is currently deep into its summer season, and that shows in the giant, white cloud that's covering the planet's north pole," according to Space.com.
Temperature: -353 degrees F.
speeds on Uranus range from 90 to 360 mph and the planet's average temperature is a frigid -353 degrees F. The coldest temperature found in Uranus' lower atmosphere so far is -371 degrees F., which rivals Neptune's frigid temperatures. Findings from Hubble reveal that clouds circle Uranus at over 300 mph.
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest-known Solar planet from the Sun. In the Solar System, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times the mass of Earth, slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus.
Distance from Sun: 4.495 billion km
Orbital period: 165 years
Radius: 24,622 km
Mass: 1.024 × 10^26 kg (17.15 M⊕)
Moons: Triton, Thalassa, Proteus, Nereid, Hippocamp, Despina, MORE
Discoverers: Urbain Le Verrier, Johann Gottfried Galle, John Couch Adams
Wind: The equatorial regions of Neptune possess average wind speeds of over 700 mph, which is faster than the speed of sound here on Earth. Like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune radiates more hear than it receives. Therefore it has an immense internal heat source.
Magnetic field: Neptune's magnetosphere is populated with fewer protons and electrons per unit volume than that of any other giant planet. Near the magnetic poles, the charged particles in the magnetosphere can travel along magnetic field lines into the atmosphere.
Rings: five
Neptune has five rings: Galle, Le Verrier, Lassell, Arago, and Adams. Its rings were named after the astronomers who made an important discovery regarding the planet.
Number of moons: Neptune has 14 named moons. One of Neptune's moons, Triton, is as big as dwarf planet Pluto. To learn more about the moons in our solar system, visit the NASA Solar System Exploration moons page.
Neptune storm: A dark storm on Neptune abruptly switched directions and started moving away from almost certain death, puzzling astronomers. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope first spotted the vortex in 2018. A year later, the storm began drifting southward toward Neptune's equator, following the path of several storms before it.
Diameter: 49,244 km
The average diameter across the planet is 30,598 miles (49,244 km), almost four times the diameter of Earth. A trip around Neptune's equator would cover 96,129 miles (154,705 km).
Atmosphere: A giant planet, Neptune's atmosphere is made of hydrogen, helium, and methane. These components, specifically methane, are what give the planet its blue color. This is because methane's gaseous composition absorbs red light and reflects blue light outward.
Core: The core of Neptune is likely composed of iron, nickel and silicates, with an interior model giving a mass about 1.2 times that of Earth. The pressure at the centre is 7 Mbar (700 GPa), about twice as high as that at the centre of Earth, and the temperature may be 5,400 K.
