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Neptune's mass of 1.0243 × 10 26 kg [8] is intermediate between Earth and the larger gas giants: it is 17 times that of Earth but just 1/19th that of Jupiter. [g] Its gravity at 1 bar is 11.15 m/s 2, 1.14 times the surface gravity of Earth, [71] and surpassed only by Jupiter. [72] Neptune's equatorial radius of 24,764 km [11] is nearly four ...
A planetary core consists of the innermost layers of a planet. [1] Cores may be entirely liquid, or a mixture of solid and liquid layers as is the case in the Earth. [2] In the Solar System, core sizes range from about 20% (the Moon) to 85% of a planet's radius (Mercury). Gas giants also have cores, though the composition of these are still a ...
A gas giant is a giant planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. [1] Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants of the Solar System. The term "gas giant" was originally synonymous with "giant planet". However, in the 1990s, it became known that Uranus and Neptune are really a distinct class of giant planets, being composed mainly of heavier ...
NASA describes the “surface” of Neptune as “extend[ing] to great depths, gradually merging into water and other melted ices over a heavier, solid core with about the same mass as Earth.”
Giant planet. The four giant planets of the Solar System: (top) Jupiter and Saturn (gas giants) (bottom) Uranus and Neptune (ice giants) Shown in order from the Sun and in true color. Sizes are not to scale. 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 ...
An ice giant is a giant planet composed mainly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. There are two ice giants in the Solar System: Uranus and Neptune. In astrophysics and planetary science the term "ice" refers to volatile chemical compounds with freezing points above about 100 K, such as ...
The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain the formation and evolution of the Solar System (as well as other planetary systems). It suggests the Solar System is formed from gas and dust orbiting the Sun which clumped up together to form the planets. The theory was developed by Immanuel Kant and ...
A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate, rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Among astronomers who use the geophysical definition of a planet, two or three ...