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A Mini-Neptune (sometimes known as a gas dwarf or transitional planet) is a planet less massive than Neptune but resembling Neptune in that it has a thick hydrogen - helium atmosphere, probably with deep layers of ice, rock or liquid oceans (made of water, ammonia, a mixture of both, or heavier volatiles). [1]
Neptune is the fourth largest planet in terms of diameter, making it the smallest in physical size of the gas giants. The average distance from the center of the planet to its surface is 15,299...
It appears that some small gas planets do exist, there is even a hypothesis (to explain its high iron comp) that Mercury was once one such small gas planet "a hot neptune" that 'fell' to a closer orbit and over the course if the last billion years or so had its atmosphere blasted away.
Neptune is the smallest gas giant and the fouth largest planet in our Solar System.
The smallest known extrasolar planet that is likely a "gas planet" is Kepler-138d, which has the same mass as Earth but is 60% larger and therefore has a density that indicates a thick gas envelope.
Facts about Neptune. Neptune is the most distant planet from the Sun. Neptune is the smallest gas giant. A year on Neptune lasts 165 Earth years. Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea. Neptune has 6 faint rings. Neptune was not known to the ancients.
The gas giants of our solar system — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — together make up a group known as the Jovian planets, according to the University of Colorado at Boulder.
However, the bigger Jovian planets are just big balls of gas (mostly hydrogen and helium) with no solid surface! As a terrestrial planet, the Earth is much smaller than the gas giants. In comparison, Jupiter’s diameter is roughly 11 times that of the Earth.
The planet takes about seven days to orbit its star, which has a mass similar to the Sun's. Located only about 490 light-years from Earth, HIP 67522 b is about 10 times the diameter of Earth, or close to that of Jupiter. Its size strongly indicates that it is a gas-dominated planet.
Neptune. The smallest and most distant of the "gas giant" planets. Neptune has much in common with its three huge neighbors Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. It has strong winds, several light and dark spots on its surface, an internal heat source, rings, and moons.