ice giant

[ahys jahy-uhnt]

noun

Astronomy.

1. a giant planet composed mostly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium: the two ice giants in our solar system are Uranus and Neptune, previously classified as gas giants, but now known to be made primarily of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ice giant¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

“I fought an ice giant, you little idiot!” the old man snapped.

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“The three newly discovered moons are the faintest ever found around these two ice giant planets using ground-based telescopes,” said Scott S. Sheppard, astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science, in a statement.

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The authors came to their conclusion after first comparing images of the ice giant to measurements of its brightness, which were recorded by the Lowell Observatory in Arizona from 1950 -- 2016 at blue and green wavelengths.

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But a study has discovered that the two ice giant planets are both similar shades of greenish blue.

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope recently trained its sights on unusual and enigmatic Uranus, an ice giant that spins on its side.

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