Planets and Rings

There are four “Gas Giants” in our solar system. These planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. Also called the outer planets, they have no defined surface. They primarily are a huge ball of gases storming around a core. We aren’t sure just how much of that core is solid either!

With Juno, NASA’s space craft heading out to Jupiter to help us better understand the gas giant, we will know a great deal more about the planet. At the present moment it is believed that the rings that have developed around gas giants include dust clouds and remnants of moons that may have broken down but stayed in orbit around the planet.

The theory expounds that the heavier material got sucked in to form the core of the gas giants, while the lighter substances continued to swirl around the planet. Not quite able to escape the planet’s gravity, and not quite influenced to come and merge with the planet.

Since the size of the gas giant planets is much larger, they are more likely to extend a stronger gravitational force compared to the smaller, rock based inner planets. This makes them ore likely to hold on to planetary rings. Juno may provide more science experiment based evidence to prove the theory.