Re: Yes, I'm back

James Landau writes:
 > In a message dated 1/21/2003 9:18:19 AM Pacific Standard Time,
 > and_yo@HOTMAIL.COM writes:
 >
 >
 > > The rotational periods of Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
 > > and Neptune are all in the 9-25h range. The much longer
 > > rotational periods of Mecury and Venus are likely due to tidal
 > > slowing caused by their proximity to the Sun.  This has caused at
 > > least some astronomers to conclude that this order of magnitude
 > > is "natural" for the rotational period of a terrestrial or jovian
 > > planet.
 >
 >  Jovian? I've heard of terrestrial type and gas giant planets, but
 > the site doesn't let you create a jovian type. I've never heard of
 > them. Is that a type of planet of extreme size (in the sense of
 > mass), enough to flatten anything that lands on the surface, but
 > still made of solid material instead of being a giant of gas?

I'm pretty sure that "jovian" (which refers to Jupiter) is here simply
a synonym for "gas giant".