Ice giant in mass. In 1952, science fiction writer James Blish coined the term "gas giant" and it was used to refer to the large non-terrestrial planets of the Solar System. However, in the 1990s, the compositions of Uranus and Neptune were discovered to be significantly different from those of Jupiter and Saturn. They are primarily composed of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, constituting a separate type of giant planet altogether. Because during their formation Uranus and Neptune incorporated their material as either ices or gas trapped in water ice, the term "ice giant" came into use. Modelling the formation of
Sudarsky's gas giant classification Sudarsky's gas giant classification Sudarsky's classification of gas giants for the purpose of predicting their appearance based on their temperature was outlined by David Sudarsky and colleagues in the paper "Albedo and Reflection Spectra of Extrasolar Giant Planets" and expanded on in "Theoretical Spectra and Atmospheres of Extrasolar Giant Planets", published before any successful direct or indirect observation of an extrasolar planet atmosphere was made. It is a broad classification system with the goal of bringing some order to the likely rich variety of extrasolar gas-giant atmospheres. Gas giants are split into five classes (numbered using Roman numerals) according to