the-star-stuff:

Gas Giants

Four of the outer planets in our solar system are known as gas giants. They are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Gas giants are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium and are quite large in size. Jupiter, for example, is 1000 times larger than the Earth. Gas giants also have low densities and tend have a very fast period of rotation. All four of the gas giants in our solar system have ring systems and a large number of moons. This may be due to the intense gravity of these planets. They may have more of a tendency to capture wandering asteroids and planetoids then the terrestrial planets. It is believed that the ring systems may have formed from old moons that were pulverized by the tidal forces of the planets’ gravity.

Images Credit: solarsystem.nasa.gov

thenewenlightenmentage:

Uranus and its Moons

We live in a beautiful solar system…