a large planet composed mostly of gaseous material thought to surround a solid core; spec. each of the four largest planets in the solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)
A quick glance over the boards revealed that there was a magnetic field of some strength near by, one that didnโt belong to the invisible gas giant revolving half a million miles away.
On worlds where only extreme modifications of the human form would make it suitableโfor instance, a planet of the gas giant typeโno seeding is attempted.
Five of the encounter probes would be specially designed to study gas-giant planets similar to Jupiter.
B-3 was already known to moonbased astronomers; it is a huge gas giant some ten miles larger than Jupiter.
Inward there were two gas giants for an ample supply of hydrogen and helium, and a thin belt of rubble for heavier metals.
The outermost was a gas giant, a lonely but colorful banded sentinel the size of Neptune.
Sunlight poured from the purple sky visible between the curve of eastward horizon (hills, haze) and the enormous overhanging bulk of the gas-giant planet Nasqueron filling the majority of the sky (motley with all the colours of the spectrum below bright yellow, multitudinously spotted, ubiquitously zoned and belted with wild liquidic squiggles).
antedating 1952
James Blish, 'Solar Plexus'
Earliest cite in the OED: 1965
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
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