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What are outer planets?
The gas giants of our solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These four large planets, also called jovian planets after Jupiter, reside in the outer part of the solar system past the orbits of Mars and the asteroid belt.
What are the characteristics of a planet?
What is a Planet?
- It must orbit a star (in our cosmic neighborhood, the Sun).
- It must be big enough to have enough gravity to force it into a spherical shape.
- It must be big enough that its gravity cleared away any other objects of a similar size near its orbit around the Sun.
What distinguishes the inner and outer planets?
The inner planets are closer to the Sun and are smaller and rockier. The outer planets are further away, larger and made up mostly of gas. The inner planets (in order of distance from the sun, closest to furthest) are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. After an asteroid belt comes the outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Like the Inner Planets, the Outer Planets share similarities but each also has its own unique characteristics. As well as all being huge and being made up mostly of gases , all four have rings spinning around them, with Saturn having the most famous rings. All four planets also have large numbers of moons orbiting them.
What are the outer planets also known as?
The Outer Planets. The Outer Planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They are also sometimes known as the Gas Giants as they are all huge in comparison to the Inner Planets and made up mostly of gas so don’t have solid surfaces.
What type of planets are the outer planets?
Outer Planets. The outer planets, also known as gas giants, comprise of relatively large planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. As discussed earlier they are situated far from the sun. These planets are mainly composed of gases like hydrogen, helium, methane, etc.