gas giant
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From gas + giant, coined by American science-fiction writer James Blish and first attested in 1952 in a rewritten version of his 1941 short story "Solar Plexus".[1][2]
Noun[edit]
gas giant (plural gas giants)
- (astronomy) A large planet composed mostly of gaseous hydrogen and helium, along with methane and ammonia; possibly with a solid core.
- 1954, James Blish, “Solar Plexus”, in Beyond Human Ken, Random House, page 106:
- A quick glance over the boards revealed that there was a magnetic field of some strength near by, one that didn't belong to the invisible gas giant revolving half a million miles away.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Altanorch:
- Altanorch is a small but typical hydrogen-helium gas giant with no outstanding features. Its combination of strong magnetic field and relatively shallow gravity well make it a popular "stopover" world for discharging FTL drive cores.
- 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184:
- In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.
Synonyms[edit]
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Hyponyms[edit]
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Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
large planet of gas
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See also[edit]
- dwarf planet
- minor planet
- Neptune (ice giant)
- Uranus (ice giant)
References[edit]
- ^ Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “gas giant, n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
- ^ Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “gas giant”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 75–76.