Quote:
Originally Posted by Poita
I know the differences, and that a Gas giant is in no way a 'star', I just think that the differences are just as profound between a nice hard crusty planet like earth, and a gas giant like Jupiter, having them both named planets is a pretty wide definition.
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Not really....add a bit more mass to the Earth and you'd get a giant planet. 10 Earth masses and the body starts to accrete hydrogen and helium in large enough quantities, plus its gravity is such it can hold onto the gases. They both formed from very similar processes....Jupiter just formed a lot faster.
Internally, their structures are basically similar, with several consecutive layers of material, only there's no solid surface to a gas giant. Where a gas giant has a solid core, it's pretty much like a large super earth in its structure.