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The giant planets

The giant planets: a chapter of The Solar System Book, with planets you watch move on their orbits and the facts behind them.

10 cards · Science

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Checked by the Brain Zap team · reviewed 23 Oct 2026

Sources: Solar System (Wikipedia), Solar System (NASA Science)

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  • Glowing on the orbit: the first giant

    Show answer: Glowing on the orbit: the first giant

    Jupiter

    Learn more: Its gravity shapes the asteroid belt and pulls in comets that might otherwise hit the inner planets.

  • Glowing on the orbit: the ringed giant

    Show answer: Glowing on the orbit: the ringed giant

    Saturn

    Learn more: It is so light for its size that it would float in a big enough bathtub of water.

  • Glowing on the orbit: the seventh planet

    Show answer: Glowing on the orbit: the seventh planet

    Uranus

    Learn more: It takes 84 years to orbit the Sun, so each pole gets 42 years of daylight.

  • Glowing on the orbit: the outermost planet

    Show answer: Glowing on the orbit: the outermost planet

    Neptune

    Learn more: It was found in 1846 by mathematics, before anyone saw it through a telescope.

  • Name of Jupiter's giant long-lived storm

    Show answer: Name of Jupiter's giant long-lived storm

    The Great Red Spot

    Learn more: Watched since at least 1830, and maybe the 1600s. It is shrinking, but is still wider than Earth.

About this topic

Beyond the asteroid belt lie four giants. Jupiter and Saturn are made mostly of hydrogen and helium; Uranus and Neptune, farther out and colder, are ice giants. All four have rings and many moons.

This is a chapter of The Solar System Book. Some of its cards show the planets moving around the Sun at their real relative speeds, with one planet glowing: name it. Others ask for the facts that make each world special, with a hint before you answer and a short reason after. Once you know most of this chapter's cards, the next chapter starts arriving in your Daily Zap.

All 10 cards

  1. Glowing on the orbit: the first giant

    Jupiter

    Learn more: Its gravity shapes the asteroid belt and pulls in comets that might otherwise hit the inner planets.

  2. Glowing on the orbit: the ringed giant

    Saturn

    Learn more: It is so light for its size that it would float in a big enough bathtub of water.

  3. Glowing on the orbit: the seventh planet

    Uranus

    Learn more: It takes 84 years to orbit the Sun, so each pole gets 42 years of daylight.

  4. Glowing on the orbit: the outermost planet

    Neptune

    Learn more: It was found in 1846 by mathematics, before anyone saw it through a telescope.

  5. Name of Jupiter's giant long-lived storm

    The Great Red Spot

    Learn more: Watched since at least 1830, and maybe the 1600s. It is shrinking, but is still wider than Earth.

  6. The two planets the asteroid belt lies between

    Mars and Jupiter

    Learn more: Jupiter's gravity kept these bodies from forming a planet. Together they weigh less than our Moon.

  7. Largest object in the asteroid belt

    Ceres

    Learn more: Found in 1801, it was called a planet, then an asteroid, and since 2006 a dwarf planet. The Dawn probe orbited it.

  8. Saturn's largest moon

    Titan

    Learn more: It has lakes and seas of liquid methane and ethane. The Huygens probe landed on it in 2005.

  9. Most volcanically active body in the Solar System

    Io

    Learn more: Tides from Jupiter's gravity squeeze it and heat its interior, powering hundreds of active volcanoes.

  10. Neptune's largest moon

    Triton

    Learn more: Its backward orbit suggests it was captured from the Kuiper Belt. Voyager 2 saw geysers on it in 1989.

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