Gas Giant

Basic Information

A gas giant is a very large planet that is made mostly of non-solid matter.

In our Solar System there are four such gas giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Subtypes:

• Jovian Planet: Like Jupiter and Saturn, they are composed mostly of Hydrogen and Helium.
• Ice Giant (Planet): Like Uranus and Neptune, these are mostly made of Water, Ammonia and Methane.
• Hot Jupiters: Gas giants that are very close to their sun and thus very hot. Currently the most commonly detected form of Exoplanet in other Star Systems.

Former Gas Giants

Old gas giants never die, they just become other planets

• Cthonian Planet - the rocky core left over from a gas giant that lost it's gas
• Hot Neptunes - a continuously boiling ocean planet
• Ocean Planet - an Ice Giant that defrosted

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia

Game and Story Use

• Harvesting material from the atmosphere of gas giants is a popular trope in Sci-fi, whether this is done with flying cities or by driving a ship into the upper reaches to scoop up fuel.
  • Where harvesting "space fuel" from gas giants is a thing, expect there to be major refineries and fuel depots orbiting either the planet itself or an inner moon. Naval bases, or at least oiling stations, could also be expected.
  • For those that don't hold with living on artificial habitats, a habitable moon might be very useful.
  • One possible export from a gas giant is metallic hydrogen fuel. If so, it would probably be mined by robots and remote-controlled devices, as the metallic hydrogen is found at pressures that would crush human bodies.