Gas Giant Planets in our Solar System

Gas giants also known as Jovian planets, are predominantely composed of hydrogen and helium.
These planets don’t have a solid surface but rather have cores surrounded by massive layers of gas.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are known as terrestrial planets whereas Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are gas giants.
They are characterised by their large sizes and low densities.
Gas giants have strong magnetic fields and a large number of moons.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined.
Its strong magnetic field generates spectacular auroras around the planet’s poles, similar to the northern and southern lights on Earth.
Giant storms churn through its atmosphere, including the notorious Great Red Spot - a storm that has lasted at least 300 years.
It has a faint ring system and a large number of moons, including Ganymede which is the largest moon in the solar system.

Saturn is most famous for its spectacular ring system, composed of ice particles and rock debris.
It is the least dense of all the planets, and is the only one that’s less dense than water.
Its atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, with traces of ammonia, water vapour and methane.
Saturn also has numerous moons, its largest moon, Titan, is bigger than the planet Mercury.

Uranus is known for its distinct blue-green colour - a result of absorption of red light by methane in the upper atmosphere.
It has a complex system of thin dark rings, made of tiny particles of ice and dust.
Unlike all other planets, Uranus rotates on its side, which creates unusual seasonal changes.
With 27 known moons, the most remarkable is Titania which is the largest and comprises approximately one third of the mass of the entire Uranian moon system.

Neptune is a deep-blue in colour due to its methane-rich atmosphere and farthest from the Sun.
Its azure colour is due to methane’s absorption of red light and the scattering of blue light back out into space.
Neptune’s atmosphere has large storms and features the strongest winds out of all the planets in the solar system.
It has a faint ring system and 14 known moons, of which Triton is the largest.