Researchers have found that diamond storms are not uncommon in the Universe at all.
ScienceAlert reports that if humans could fly through Neptune’s atmosphere, they could witness a spectacular event: a rain of diamonds.
In a new study, an international team of scientists found that such diamond storms may be a fairly common occurrence in the Universe. The fact is that in gas giants, carbon can turn into crystals, for example, on Neptune and Uranus, where ultra-high temperatures and high pressure prevail in the depths of the atmosphere.
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During the experiment, scientists simulated diamond formation conditions and found that the temperature and pressure thresholds for this type of diamond were much lower than expected. Such data suggest that diamond showers are possible on smaller gas planets, such as “mini-Netoons.” We now know of the existence of many such planets outside the solar system.
Additionally, this discovery helps science explain some oddities in the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune.
“The revolutionary discovery not only deepens our knowledge of planets such as Uranus and Neptune, but also sheds light on processes that can be observed on exoplanets outside our solar system,” says physicist Siegfried Glenzer of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Important
In the research, the team used the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (European
The experiment helped the team gain a detailed understanding of the formation process of this type of diamond.
On planets, diamonds may form in the atmosphere at shallower depths than scientists previously thought. Therefore, falling diamonds can carry gas and ice with them, which affects the planets’ magnetic fields.
Planets such as Neptune and Uranus do not have symmetrical magnetic fields, unlike Earth. Until now, scientists did not understand why this happened and suggested that such magnetic fields do not form in the planet’s core. Diamond showers may explain this anomaly.
“The process could cause movement in conductive ices found on these planets, which could affect the formation of magnetic fields,” says physicist Mungo Frost of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
To summarize, scientists believe that a combination of strange weather conditions and unusual chemical reactions may have caused a rain of diamonds on Saturn and other similar gas giants.
Source: Focus
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