Editing Giant planet (section)

==Description==
[[File:Gas Giant Interiors.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Cutaway illustrations of the interior of the giant planets. Jupiter is shown with a rocky [[Planetary core|core]] overlaid by a deep layer of [[metallic hydrogen]].]]
A giant planet is a massive [[planet]] and has a thick atmosphere of [[hydrogen]] and [[helium]]. They may have a condensed "core" of heavier elements, delivered during the formation process.<ref name="stevenson2022">{{Cite journal |last1=Stevenson |first1=David J. |last2=Bodenheimer |first2=Peter |last3=Lissauer |first3=Jack J. |last4=D’Angelo |first4=Gennaro |date=2022-04-01 |title=Mixing of Condensable Constituents with H–He during the Formation and Evolution of Jupiter |journal=The Planetary Science Journal |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=74 |doi=10.3847/PSJ/ac5c44 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2022PSJ.....3...74S |issn=2632-3338}}</ref> This core may be partially or completely dissolved and dispersed throughout the hydrogen/helium envelope.<ref name="wilson2012"/><ref name="stevenson2022"/> In "traditional" giant planets such as [[Jupiter]] and [[Saturn]] (the gas giants) hydrogen and helium make up most of the mass of the planet, whereas they only make up an outer envelope on [[Uranus]] and [[Neptune]], which are instead mostly composed of [[water]], [[ammonia]], and [[methane]] and therefore increasingly referred to as "[[ice giant]]s".

Extrasolar giant planets that orbit very close to their stars are the [[exoplanet]]s that are easiest to detect. These are called [[hot Jupiter]]s and [[hot Neptune]]s because they have very high surface temperatures. Hot Jupiters were, until the advent of space-borne telescopes, the most common form of exoplanet known, due to the relative ease of detecting them with ground-based instruments.

Giant planets are commonly said to lack solid surfaces, but it is more accurate to say that they lack surfaces altogether since the gases that form them simply become thinner and thinner with increasing distance from the planets' centers, eventually becoming indistinguishable from the interplanetary medium. Therefore, landing on a giant planet may or may not be possible, depending on the size and composition of its core.