Page 2 - SOLAR SYSTEM
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Giant gas planet
.S) Jupiter iS the 0 on Juprter, or any crther gas
,'\stronauts will never land
giant, l,ecause there Is no
Solar System's bi99est solid surl'ace to touch down on.
0
planet. It is 11 times the
size of Earth. Jupiter, along
with Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune, are known as gas
giants, because they are
huge planets made of gas
and liquid.
S S Jupiter ic; made mainly
or hydrogen and helium. Below its
atmosphere, gas is compressed
(squashed) so much that it changes
to liquid. Deeper still it is compressed
even more, causing the liquid to
behave like metal. As Jupiter spins,
this liquid metal creates a magnetic
field, which is the strongest in the
Solar System. At the centre there is
thought to be a small, rocky core.
Jupiter has a dense
core about the size
l:at'th, surrounded by
lictuid and gas.
