Why are the outer planets like Jupiter called “gas giants,” when it’s gravity has likely over time pulled in millions of tons of asteroidal debris creating a stable form below the gas?

74 views

Why are the outer planets like Jupiter called “gas giants,” when it’s gravity has likely over time pulled in millions of tons of asteroidal debris creating a stable form below the gas?

In: 1

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because they’re still mostly gas by volume.

Yes it’s believed that they have some kind of solid, rocky or metallic core, but we do not know that for sure, because we can’t see it through the atmosphere. So all we know is that they’re really big planets with a really really thick atmosphere.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The gas giants are basically failed stars in that they failed to gather enough gas into them to create a star and so remained planets which were mainly made out of gas.