Jovian Planet

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Physical / Universe / Solar System / Jovian Planet
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Jovian planets, after Jupiter, are also called giant planets or gas giants. However, many astronomers apply the latter term only to Jupiter and Saturn, classifying Uranus and Neptune, which have different compositions, as ice giants. Both names are potentially misleading: all of the giant planets consist primarily of fluids above their critical points, where distinct gas and liquid phases do not exist. The principal components are hydrogen and helium in the case of Jupiter and Saturn, and water, ammonia and methane in the case of Uranus and Neptune. — Wikipedia

Jovian Planets (Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy, Wolfram Research)
Jovian Planet (COSMOS: The SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy)

The Jovian Planets (Introduction to Astronomy, Wolfgang H. Berger, UC San Diego)
What are the Jovian Planets? (Matt Williams, Universe Today)

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Inspiration

NASA (YouTube Channel)
NASA (Official Website)

Solar System Treks are online, browser-based portals that allow you to visualize, explore, and analyze the surfaces of other worlds using real data returned from a growing fleet of spacecraft. You can view the worlds through the eyes of many different instruments, pilot real-time 3D flyovers above mountains and into craters, and conduct measurements of surface features. Icy Moon Treks is a NASA web-based portal for exploration of the Solar System’s icy moons. Many of these orbit Jovian planets. — Phobos Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Icy Moons Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Voyager (Astrum, YouTube Playlist)

Articles about Jovian Planets (Big Think)

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Innovation

Science

Gas giant planet is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Gas giants are also called failed stars because they contain the same basic elements as a star. Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants. — Wikipedia

Ice giant planet is composed mainly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Uranus and Neptune are ice giants. — Wikipedia

Why Are the Inner and Outer Planets Different? (SciShow Space, YouTube Video)

Outer Planets (Lunar & Planetary Institute)

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Preservation

History

Pioneer programs were two series of United States lunar and planetary space probes exploration. The second program, which ran from 1965 to 1992, sent four spacecraft to measure interplanetary space weather, two to explore Jupiter and Saturn, and two to explore Venus. The two outer planet probes, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System. — Wikipedia

Pioneer 10 Mission (NASA Science)
Pioneer 10: Our First View into Outer Planets (SciShow Space, YouTube Video)
The Extraordinary Journey of NASA’s Pioneer 10 (The History Guy, YouTube Video)
Pioneer 10 (Wikipedia)

Pioneer 11 Mission (NASA Science)
Pioneer 11 (Wikipedia)

Pioneer 10 and 11 (Planetary Society)

Voyager Program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic interstellar probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, to fly near them while collecting data for transmission back to Earth. After launch the decision was taken to send Voyager 2 near Uranus and Neptune. — Wikipedia

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (YouTube Channel)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Official Website)

Voyager 1 & 2 (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, YouTube Playlist)
Voyager Mission (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Voyager Mission (NASA Science)
Voyager 1 (NASA Science)
Voyager 2 (NASA Science)

The Voyager Spacecraft’s 40 Year Journey (The New York Times, YouTube Video)
The Story of the Voyager Expedition (The New Yorker, YouTube Video)

Voyager 2 and the Grand Tour (The History Guy, YouTube Video)

Voyager Mission (Planetary Society)
Voyager Program (Wikipedia)

Library

Subject: Jovian Planets (WorldCat)

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Participation

Education

Explore the Solar System: The Gas Giants (SciShow Kids, YouTube Video)

The Outer Planets (OER Commons)

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching

Community

Organization

International Astronomical Union (IAU)
The Planetary Society

News

Jovian Planet (Nova Research Highlights, American Astronomical Society)
Jovian Planets (JSTOR)
Gas Giant (Astronomy Magazine)
Jovian Planet (Science Daily)
Jovian Planet (Phys.org)

Recent News from Phys.org …

JUICE is planning to do science on Jupiter's...
on March 19, 2026 at 4:40 pm
The European Space Agency's (ESA's) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) probe is on its (very long) way to Jupiter, and will finally arrive at the King of Planets in 2031. Its primary mission is to focus on the "big three" icy moons—Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. But while JUICE is busy mapping Ganymede's magnetic field, it will also be keeping a sharp eye on the other 94 moons in the Jupiter system. A recent paper published in Space Science Reviews by Tilmann Denk of DLR, Germany's space […]
Jupiter's Galilean moons may have gained life's...
on February 24, 2026 at 12:20 am
Southwest Research Institute was part of an international team that demonstrated how complex organic molecules (COMs), key chemical precursors to life, could have been incorporated into Jupiter's Galilean moons during their formation. The team's findings have resulted in complementary studies published in The Planetary Science Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, offering new insights into the potential for life in the Jovian system.
Auroras on Ganymede and Earth share striking...
on February 23, 2026 at 10:20 pm
New observations of Ganymede reveal a striking similarity between the auroras on the largest moon in the solar system and those on Earth. The international team of astrophysicists, led by researchers from the University of Liège, has produced new results indicating that, despite different conditions, the fundamental physical processes that generate auroras are common to different celestial bodies, and not just planets.
The archaeologist's guide to colonizing other...
on November 10, 2025 at 5:55 pm
Models help scientists understand everything from the particles that make up the universe to massive superstructures of galaxies at the beginning of time. But sometimes they model more mundane, though perhaps even more complex, features—including the course of human civilization. A new paper by Thomas Leppard of the International Archaeological Research Institute and his co-authors, all of whom are also archaeologists, proposes applying a model of how humans expanded to the different islands […]
Webb telescope spies Io's volcanic activity and...
on November 4, 2025 at 5:38 pm
Trapped in a gravitational push and pull between Jupiter and other Jovian moons, Io is constantly being stretched and compressed. Heat generated by these contortions has melted pockets of the moon's interior so much that Io is our solar system's most volcanically active body.