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It is a gas giant with a mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined and slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. Its diameter is eleven times that of Earth , and a tenth that of the Sun. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm ), with an orbital period of 11.86 years .
A cold hydrogen-rich gas giant more massive than Jupiter but less than about 500 M E (1.6 M J) will only be slightly larger in volume than Jupiter. [9] For masses above 500 M E, gravity will cause the planet to shrink (see degenerate matter). [9] Kelvin–Helmholtz heating can cause a gas giant to radiate more energy than it receives from its ...
In the 1990s, it was determined that Uranus and Neptune were a distinct class of giant planet, separate from the other giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, which are gas giants predominantly composed of hydrogen and helium. [1] As such, Neptune and Uranus are now referred to as ice giants. Lacking well-defined solid surfaces, they are primarily ...
Sudarsky's classification of gas giants for the purpose of predicting their appearance based on their temperature was outlined by David Sudarsky and colleagues in the paper Albedo and Reflection Spectra of Extrasolar Giant Planets [1] and expanded on in Theoretical Spectra and Atmospheres of Extrasolar Giant Planets, [2] published before any successful direct or indirect observation of an ...
A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is more massive than the planet Jupiter. For example, companions at the planet–brown dwarf borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star Kappa Andromedae. [1] By 2011 there were 180 known super-Jupiters, some hot, some cold. [2]
A giant planet, sometimes referred to as a jovian planet (Jove being another name for the Roman god Jupiter), is a diverse type of planet much larger than Earth. Giant planets are usually primarily composed of low-boiling point materials (), rather than rock or other solid matter, but massive solid planets can also exist.
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Neptune, like Uranus, is an ice giant, a subclass of giant planet, because they are smaller and have higher concentrations of volatiles than Jupiter and Saturn. [73] In the search for exoplanets , Neptune has been used as a metonym : discovered bodies of similar mass are often referred to as "Neptunes", [ 74 ] just as scientists refer to ...