what is inside a "gas giant"???

i wanted to know what is inside a gas giant (jupiter etc).

is it ALL gas or can we possibly send a robot there???

I'm not absolutely sure myself and I have also wondered this. I know that it would be very hard to send a robot to Jupiter because of the very violent atmosphere and weather there. Also, the gravity would probably make it very hard for a robot to move on a surface. It could even possibly be crushed.

Hey, where's ScienceGuyQ, normally he'd be all over this question!

Gas giants do typically have a core, and actually, the gases themselves aren't always in gaseous form. Jupiter's upper atmosphere gets ammonia rain, and a few thousand miles in, the pressure from the atmosphere is so great and the gravity so high that it actually causes helium to comact to the point where it becomes metalic. Currently we wouldn't be able to send a probe to Jupiter that would make it farther then a mile into the atmosphere before being crushed into nothing. It's much like sending one to the sun. We can probe the surface, but with current technology, that's as far as we can go.

I think the Gasses are just compacted to the point of becoming at least liquid.


I would imagine that at least the core is solid if for no other reason than the metors, comets and other large chunks of rock that have been sucked in over the millions of years.

I just did a search and came up with this

galileo.jpl.nasa.gov...

I don't think I'd like to visit there any time soon

Originally posted by Amuk
I think the Gasses are just compacted to the point of becoming at least liquid.


I would imagine that at least the core is solid if for no other reason than the metors, comets and other large chunks of rock that have been sucked in over the millions of years.

I was going to say the same thing, if it did'nt have a solid core it would have got one from solid material hiting it. I have trouble understanding how so much gas could just come together and form a planet unless some kind of large solid core with a huge gravitational pull attracted the gas and held it together. Wouldn't gas just expand in space without some gravitational force holding it there in the first place?

I would assume that there is a large solid core under those gases, I would'nt be suprized if it was much much bigger than earth. I think the gas planets are just like other planets but with thick atmospheres hiding the surface.

It is possible for metallic hydrogen maybe even in solid form at the core of a gas giant.

doubt the british government could even get a probe there never mind get there lets leave all the good stuff 2 they american's eh... lets not even embarass ourselves.

I think the americans get credit for to much..+ i think if the british where to have the funds which the americans have they would have done much more that what the americans have managed to do....but then thats just my opinion

(Working out from centre)

Core
We don't know for sure if jupiter has a solid core or not, bu if it did it would probably be ice or silicate or molten rock. I would predict that it would be a number of times larger than earth and probably very hot.
Mantle
Pressurized hydrogen in the mantle may generate electric currents which generate Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. The outer mantle is liquid hydrogen; the inner mantle is liquid metallic hydrogen.
Atmosphere
Jupiters atmosphere is 90% hydrogen and 10% helium with small amounts of mathane water ammonia and rock dust.

btw huge amounts of gas CAN come together in space, a good example is our sun.

Jupiter has a solid core all the planets have a solid core. Or they would not have been able to form, Jupiter is gaseous but it dose have some liquid oceans but hats due to immense pressure of Jupiter, and you can send a robot to Jupiter take the Galileo Space Probe it sent one to Jupiter it made it past the first layers then it was destroyed by the perssure of Jupiter. Thats why we know it has a liquid oceans and lightning only strike 1/10 as ferquently on Jupiter compared to here on Earth

Originally posted by Area 51 caretaker
doubt the british government could even get a probe there never mind get there lets leave all the good stuff 2 they american's eh... lets not even embarass ourselves.

Ohh fukk, this guys British!

Originally posted by Area 51 caretaker
lets not even embarass ourselves.

Why? Cause you can do it well enough for all of us??



PLEASE type properly when you come to this board, I have seen your posts and I can honestly, vbarely understand them. If I see any more of your posts like this I am not going to bother trying to decipher them so I will just ignore them and I am sure most other people will start doing the same thing.

That said. Welcome to the board and enjoy yourself but, just, please realise that if you want us to read your thoughts then be respectful enough to allow us to understand what they say!

Cheers.

p.s. sorry if that seems a little harsh but this style of lazy writing is one of my stronger pet hates.

[Edited on 25-3-2004 by triplesod]

quicksilver basically laid down all the facts i would have, but...

jupiter does have a solid core, and despite what you all think, it is smaller than the earth. it's just denser and a lot more massive. this also can be attributed to jupiters 10 hour day. it's the conservation of the mass that causes it to spin so fast...this is the same reason why a neutron star spins so fast.

as for sending a probe? we can orbit it, but that's about all really. the pressure is too great for anything to make it in there too deeply.

Hey Keen kid?

This is something that just occured to me, something I have never thought of before, nor had any reason to think.

Simple question and I am sure you are the man to answer it.

But.. Does our sun rotate in space? If so, how fast? What length would one of its "days" be? By that I obviously mean how many hours for a complete spin.

Am I right in thinking that not all planets spin, only the ones that havent been allowed to slow, settle and stop yet, due to their relatively young age?

Maybe you will find these questions laughable but I do not know nearly as much as I probably should about astronemy (though I am eager to learn) and I am not coy about my ignorance, if I was to be then I would remain ignorant for a long time.

Thankyou

But.. Does our sun rotate in space? If so, how fast? What length would one of its "days" be? By that I obviously mean how many hours for a complete spin.

I think I read that it does spin. I am not sure of the leanth of its day but it does spin I think

The sun does spin...however like the gas giants, it is liquid and gas and therfore has rings of material that spin.

Every large body in space spins, even galaxies. Stars not only spin, but I believe they also sort of turn themselves inside out in an ongoing process of convection. There have long been theories that spin is somehow related to gravity.

Originally posted by triplesod
But.. Does our sun rotate in space? If so, how fast? What length would one of its "days" be? By that I obviously mean how many hours for a complete spin.

the sun does rotate in space, like quest said. a day on the sun i think is about 25 and a half days here on earth. if you have a telescope WITH A SOLAR FILTER!!!! you can watch sunspots. they'll take a little longer than 14 days to move across the disk of the sun. DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT A SOLAR FILTER! sorry, i've heard stories of people looking at the sun without one... it means bad news for your eyes, basically.

Am I right in thinking that not all planets spin, only the ones that havent been allowed to slow, settle and stop yet, due to their relatively young age?

not exactly. all the planets do spin, just some significantly slower than others. here's some data on that day lengths of the planets for you :

Mercury - 59 Earth days (interesting fact: its orbit is 88 Earth days long, making it have a three days to two years ratio.)
Venus - 243 Earth days (interesting fact: it's year is only 221 days long. also, it spins east to west, unlike any other planet.)
Earth - well, if you don't know this one... :bnghd:
Mars - one day is 24 hours, 37 minutes. one year is about 1.9 Earth years.
Jupiter - one day is 9 hours, 50 minutes (fastest of all the planets). one year is about 11.9 earth years.
Saturn - one day is 10 hours, 14 minutes. one year is about 29.5 earth years. (very interesting fact: right now is the closest saturn has been in a really long time, dunno the specifics. also, it is giving us the ebst possible view of it's rings in 30 years so go find a telescope or binoculars and look! this weekend saturn and will be very close to the moon.)
Uranus - ah... the butt of a lot of planet jokes... it's day is a little over 17 hours. it's year is about 84 Earth years.
Neptune - it's day is about 18.5 hours long, with a year of nearly 165 Earth years. (interesting fact: when voyager II flew by it discovered the Great Dark Spot, a storm comparable to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. years later though, in hubble images this storm was gone.)
Pluto - it's day is 6.4 Earth days. its year is 248 Earth years. (interestng fact: its only moon, Charon, orbit is 6.4 days long, so it's always in the same part of the sky on the same side of Pluto.)

Maybe you will find these questions laughable but I do not know nearly as much as I probably should about astronemy (though I am eager to learn) and I am not coy about my ignorance, if I was to be then I would remain ignorant for a long time.

i don't find any questions laughable. i love helping people out when it comes to astronomy, that's why i have the link in my signature. and there's no such thing as a bad question, so ask away!

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
Every large body in space spins, even galaxies. Stars not only spin, but I believe they also sort of turn themselves inside out in an ongoing process of convection. There have long been theories that spin is somehow related to gravity.

you're correct. between the radiative zone and the surface of the sun is a large layer of convectivity. it's just like convection in water or air... hot rises, cool sinks.

Yea it takes what? 1000 years for the radiation to get through that part. Its what holds stops the sun from collapsing in a way.

Fact: The sun could fit inside Jupiter's magnetosphere. It's BIG.