Gas planets - are they really all gas? (1 Viewer)

[MickeS]

Whenever I read about the "gas planets" like Jupiter or some of the huge ones they have discovered in other solar systems, I always wonder if they are all gas. Are they?

I mean, could nothing land on them? Is it gas like we think of it, or is it something else?

/Mike

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

I hope they're not made of the gas I produce! P-yew!!!

 

[Jack Briggs]

Jupiter is believed to have a molten, rocky core--but the vast bulk of the planet is a gaseous atmosphere. Hence, it's a "gas giant." Think of it as a failed star.

 

[John Spencer]

Most, if not all, gas planets have some form of solid center that creates the gravitational pull which holds the gases (and other non-solid material) in a planet-like shape.

 

[MickeS]

Think of it as a failed star

No, that's just too sad... I don't want to associate something magnificent like Jupiter with Mariah Carey.
So, can you LAND on these things then? Or fly through them?
/Mike

 

[Kevin P]

I don't know about "landing" on a gas giant, the atmosphere is so thick that you'd need a submersible, not a space ship. But barring atmospheric pressure which would likely crush your submersible's 6-foot thick steel walls like a soda can, I suppose you could "land" on the core. You'd have to get through a few thousand miles of liquified hydrogen to reach the core though. What would you find there, probably not much of anything. It would be pitch dark since no sunlight could get through the thick, dense gaseous atmosphere.

Think of it as a failed star

Jupiter's nowhere near massive enough to become a star. It's a planet with a weight problem. I bet there are even more massive gas giants in other systems.
KJP

 

[Jack Briggs]

All gas giants are failed stars--their lack of enough mass is why they are failed stars.

No, there's no way they can be landed upon--and the atmospheric pressure is too great to submerse a vehicle in for long; remember, the Galileo spacecraft's "piggyback" atmospheric probe was able to return data for only a few minutes before it crumpled and burned.

Also, bear in mind that Jupiter has the most intense radiation field of any object in the Solar System short of the Sun. It's a lethal place to be.

 

[Scott Hayes]

Would it be possible to light a gas giant if they are failed stars as in the end of the movie 2010? I wouldnt mind living in a binary star system, planet would be warm all the time, wouldnt have to put up with snow shoveling.

 

[Kevin P]

Would it be possible to light a gas giant if they are failed stars as in the end of the movie 2010?

Sure, just toss in a match!
I think you need a monolith to do it. I don't have one, so I don't really know if it's possible or not. Jupiter's too small and distant to provide Earth with much heat if it were possible to "light" it. There's not enough mass in Jupiter to sustain nuclear fusion reactions, which is why it's not a star to begin with.
KJP

 

[Joseph Howard]

Ahem....
Actually, "Gas giant" only refers to the part of the
planet we can see.
For example, Jupiter probably has a rocky molten core
that is much larger than the Earth, but much smaller
than the planet's overall diameter. Also, what this
"rocky molten" core might look like is a very hard
question to answer because the temperature and pressure
on the material is incredibly high. Think of it as
an incredibly dense sea of incredibly hot lava, but
unlike any lava type material we can fathom. In fact,
it might behave more like a "plastic" under the
conditions in the inner reaches of Jupiter.
Most of a gas giant, by volume is LIQUID!! NOT Gas. Most of
the interior of Jupiter is a differentiated liquid sea
of hydrogen, maybe even helium. And this liquid (it is
a liquid because the atmopsheric pressure is soooo high!)
sits on top of the "molten core."
Lastly, like the peel on an orange, is the comparatively
thin (thin to the rest of Jupiter that is) layer of
"GAS" that we associate with a "gas giant" planet.
So, interestingly, most of a "Gas giant" is more likly a
planet of highly compressed liquid seas. Most of a "gas
giant" isn't gas, but liquid.
We call them "gas giants" because that is as much as we
can "see" at this point.
A link.... to start your tour of the interior of the
outer solar system worlds.
Link Removed
Dr. Joe

 

[Ryan Wright]

Hmmmmmm....
If it's mostly liquid.... any possibility of farming it for extra fuel/etc for ships? If you could figure a way to mine that huge sea of hydrogen, you could setup nice space outposts from Mars on out. Might make for an interesting way to put people on Mars.
Of course, I know there's something fundamentally wrong with this idea. I'm only posting it so someone who knows more than I can shoot it down.

 

[Scott Hayes]

Unless I lost my mind, a very real possibility, isnt Mars between the Earth and Jupiter? That would be an extremely long haul for some fuel. Or is that the fundamentaly wrong problem you spoke of?

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

Unless I lost my mind, a very real possibility, isnt Mars between the Earth and Jupiter?

Not after we blow the fucker up! Problem solved.

By the way, threads like these are why I love the After Hours lounge. I've learned some pretty cool stuff in this thread.

 

[Kevin P]

Not after we blow the fucker up! Problem solved.

That would make Marvin very angry. Very angry indeed.
Distances would preclude "mining" Jupiter for fuel for Mars, but perhaps it could be "mined" for trips to Saturn, Uranus, etc. However, once you get close enough to grab some of that liquid hydrogen, you probably wouldn't be able to build up enough velocity to escape Jupiter's gravity without burning up all the hydrogen you just mined. If you could survive going that far into Jupiter's atmosphere that is.

 

[Frank Anderson]

You can learn all kinds of stuff on HTF.

In reguards to Shoemaker-Levy... did Jupiters gravity suck them in or where they on a direct line?