Scientists have discovered that Jupiter has the remains of baby planets that it took up as it expanded. There is a clear view of the chemistry beneath the planet's cloudy outer atmosphere.
Despite being the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter has kept a low profile. Telescopes have captured thousands of images of the swirling vortex clouds in the gas giant's upper atmosphere, but these Van Gogh-esque storms block our view of what's below.
The solar system was formed around 4.5 billion years ago, and Jupiter was one of the first planets to be formed. We don't know a lot about how it came to be.
Jupiter is shown in stunning (and woozy) footage from the Juno spaceship.
Researchers were able to peer past Jupiter's obscuring cloud cover with the help of NASA's Juno space probe. The team was able to map out the rocky material at the core of the giant planet with the help of this data. Jupiter is thought to have devoured baby planets to fuel its growth.
Like every other planet in the solar system, Jupiter began its life by accretion of rocky material. As the planet's gravity pulled in more and more rocks, the rocky core became so dense that it attracted large amounts of gas from far away.
There are two different theories about how Jupiter got its rocks. There is a theory that Jupiter accumulated billions of smaller space rocks, which are known as pebbles.
The new study supports the idea that Jupiter's core was formed from the absorption of many planetesimals, which if left undisturbed could have acted as seeds from smaller rocky planets.
It has been difficult to say which of these theories is true. We can't directly observe how Jupiter was formed, so we have to put the pieces together. This is not an easy job.
Researchers need to build a picture of Jupiter's insides to settle the debate. Seismographs are used to study the inside of the planet. She said that Jupiter's core is unlikely to have much tectonic activity because it has no surface to put such devices on.
The researchers combined data from both Galileo and Jupiter to create computer models of the planet. The probes were able to measure the planet's gravity. The data shows that rocky material created by Jupiter has a high concentration of heavy elements, which form dense solids, and has a stronger effect on the atmosphere than the gaseous one. The team was able to see where the rocky material is located thanks to this data.
The gravity data provided by Juno helped us to understand the distribution of material in Jupiter's interior. It's very unique data that we can only get with a space craft.
There is an equivalent of between 11 and 30 Earth masses of heavy elements within Jupiter, which is more than expected.
The pebble-accretion theory can't explain the high concentration of heavy elements because they are planetesimal-gobbling. The rocky accretion stage would have ended if Jupiter had formed from pebbles. The growing layer of gas would create a pressure barrier that stopped pebbles from being pulled into the planet. The rocky accretion phase would likely have reduced Jupiter's heavy metal abundance.
Jupiter's core could have been made of planetesimals even after the gas accretion phase had begun. The high levels of heavy elements within Jupiter are explained by the simultaneous accretion of rocky material and gas.
Jupiter's insides don't mix well into its upper atmosphere, which is contrary to what scientists had thought. A new model of Jupiter's insides shows that the heavy elements have remained close to its core and lower atmosphere. If this were the case, the heavy elements would be more evenly mixed throughout the atmosphere and hotter gas near the planet's core would rise to the outer atmosphere.
There is a chance that some regions of Jupiter may have a small effect on the atmosphere.
Other planets in the solar system could be affected by the researchers' findings. The most influential planet in the creation of the solar system wasJupiter. Determining how it came to be has important knock on effects for other planets. There is a chance that the other gas giants in the solar system are planets.
The formation of other gaseous worlds in other star systems may have been done by goingbbling up planetesimals rather than pebbles. The researchers said that it's important that we don't judge the new worlds by their cloudy covers when searching for them.
The study was published in the journal in June.
It was originally published on Live Science
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