If a person ever gets to the largest planets of the solar system - Jupiter and Saturn, then with his own eyes he will be able to see the "sky in diamonds". According to the latest research by planetary scientists, diamond rains fall on the gas giants.
Researchers of alien worlds have long wondered: could high pressure inside giant planets? Planetologists Mona Delitsky of California-based Specialty Engineering and Kevin Baines of the University of Wisconsin-Madison confirmed their colleagues' long-standing assumptions.
According to a model built on the observations of astrophysicists, when a lightning discharge appears in the upper atmosphere of gas giants and affects methane molecules, carbon atoms are released. These atoms combine in large numbers with each other, after which they begin a long journey to the stone core of the planet. These "gatherings" of carbon atoms are rather massive particles, that is, they are essentially soot. Most likely, it was they who saw the apparatus "Cassini".
Soot particles slowly descend to the center of the planet, bypassing successively all layers of its atmosphere. The farther they go through the layers of gaseous and liquid hydrogen to the core, the more pressure and heat they experience. Gradually, the soot shrinks to the state of graphite, and then transforms into ultra-dense diamonds. But the tests do not end there, the alien gems are heated to a temperature of 8 thousand degrees Celsius (that is, they reach the melting point) and fall to the surface of the core in the form of liquid diamond drops.
"Inside Saturn, there are suitable conditions for a hail of diamonds. The most favorable zone is located on a segment starting from a depth of six thousand kilometers and ending with a depth of 30 thousand kilometers. According to our calculations, Saturn can contain up to 10 million tons of these gems, with most some of them are no more than a millimeter in diameter, but there are also samples with a diameter of about 10 centimeters,” Baines says.
In connection with the new discovery, planetologists have proposed an interesting idea: a robot can be sent to Saturn to collect drops of "precious" rain. Interestingly, this study is a kind of repetition of the plot of the sci-fi book "Alien Seas" (Alien Seas), according to which in 2469 Saturn will collect diamonds for the construction of the hull of a mining vessel that will go to the planet's core and collect helium-3. needed to create thermonuclear fuel.
The thought is tempting, but scientists warn: diamonds should be left on Saturn to prevent financial chaos on Earth.
Delitsky and Baines concluded that diamonds would remain stable inside giant planets. They came to this conclusion as a result of a comparative analysis of recent astrophysical studies. These works have experimentally confirmed the specific temperatures and pressure levels at which carbon takes on various allotropic modifications, such as hard diamond. To do this, scientists simulated the conditions (primarily temperature and pressure) in different layers of the atmospheres of giant planets.
“We collected the results of several studies and came to the conclusion that diamonds can indeed fall from the skies of Jupiter and Saturn,” says Delitsky.
It must be borne in mind that until a certain discovery is confirmed by the results of observations or experiments, it will remain at the level of a hypothesis. So far, nothing contradicts the model of the formation of diamond drops on gas giants. However, Baynes and Delitsky's colleagues expressed their doubts about the plausibility of the model now described.
So, David Stevenson (David Stevenson), a planetary scientist from the California Institute of Technology, argues that Baines and Delitsky incorrectly used the laws of thermodynamics in their calculations.
"Methane makes up a very small fraction of the hydrogen atmosphere of Jupiter and Saturn - 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. I think there is a process similar to the dissolution of salt and sugar in water at high temperatures. Even if you directly created carbon dust and put it in the upper atmosphere of Saturn, then it would simply dissolve in all these layers, rapidly descending to the core of the planet, ”says Stevenson, who did not take part in the study.
Similar work was done a few years ago by physicist Luca Ghiringhelli of the Fritz Haber Institute. He was also skeptical about the conclusions of Baines and Delitsky. In his work, he studied Neptune and Uranus, which are much richer in carbon than Saturn and Jupiter, but even their carbon is not enough to form crystals atom by atom.
Colleagues Baines and Delitsky advise them to continue their research, supplementing the model with more real data and observational results.
The report on the discovery of Delitsky and Baines () was made at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS Division for Planetary Sciences), which takes place in Denver from October 6 to October 11, 2013.
According to the latest research from two planetary scientists, Jupiter and Saturn may actually be raining diamonds.
Astronomers have long wondered if the high pressures inside the giant planets could turn carbon into diamond, and although some dispute this possibility, American scientists say it is possible.
According to their latest assumptions, in the upper atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, lightning splits methane molecules, thus releasing carbon atoms. These atoms can then collide with each other and form larger particles of carbon black, which can be detected by the Cassini spacecraft in Saturn's dark thunderclouds. As the soot particles slowly descend through layers of gaseous and liquid hydrogen to the planet's rocky core, they are subjected to ever greater temperatures and pressures. Soot turns first into graphite and then into hard diamonds. When the temperature reaches 8000°C, the diamonds melt into liquid raindrops.
Conditions inside Saturn are such that the diamond "hail" region begins at a depth of about 6,000 km in the atmosphere and extends another 30,000 km deep. Saturn may contain about 10 million tons of diamonds formed in this way. Most are pieces ranging in size from a millimeter to perhaps 10 centimeters.
Planetary scientists have come to the conclusion about the stability of diamonds in the depths of the giant planets by comparing recent studies of the physical conditions under which carbon changes its structure with simulations of temperature and pressure changes with depth for the giant planets. However, many scientists dispute this conclusion. As a counterargument, the fact is given that methane makes up a very small part of the predominantly hydrogen atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn - only 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively. In such systems, "thermodynamics favors mixtures." This means that even if carbon black dust manages to form, as it falls into deeper layers, it will dissolve very quickly.
When a main sequence star is at the final stage of its evolution, the reaction of converting hydrogen into helium stops in the core, the star begins to cool. The further fate of a star directly depends on its mass....
Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, is the most distant celestial body to which a guest has flown from Earth. This planet deserves special interest from scientists, as it has a complex atmosphere and lakes of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface, and ...
The Cassini space probe has captured the first image of a cloud that has recently formed over the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan. A similar atmospheric phenomenon speaks of the change of seasons, an article about this is posted on the official ...
We live on Earth and are not even surprised when water starts to drip from the sky. We are accustomed to large cumulus clouds, which first form from water vapor, and then break up, bringing down showers on us.
On other planets of the solar system, clouds also form and there are rains. But these clouds, as a rule, do not consist of water at all. Each planet has its own unique atmosphere, which determines equally unique weather.
Rain on Mercury
Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is a cratered, lifeless world with daytime temperatures reaching 430 degrees Celsius. Mercury's atmosphere is so thin that it's nearly impossible to detect. There are no clouds or rain on Mercury.
Related materials:
The largest planets in the solar system
Rain on Venus
But Venus, our closest neighbor in space, has a rich and powerful cloud cover, which is pierced by zigzags of lightning. Until scientists saw the surface of Venus, they thought that there were a lot of wet and swampy places on it, completely covered with vegetation. Now we know that there is no vegetation there, but there are rocks and heat up to 480 degrees Celsius at noon.
There are real acid rains on Venus, since the clouds of Venus are composed of deadly sulfuric acid, and not of life-giving water. But at a temperature of 480 degrees Celsius, apparently, even such a rain is impossible. Drops of sulfuric acid evaporate before they can reach the surface of Venus.
Related materials:
How is hail formed?
Rain on Mars
Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system. Scientists believe that in ancient times, Mars may have been similar to Earth in terms of natural conditions. Currently, Mars has a very rarefied atmosphere, and its surface, judging by the photographs, is similar to the deserts of the southwestern United States of America. When winter sets in on Mars, thin clouds of frozen carbon dioxide appear over the red plains and frost covers the rocks. In the mornings there is fog in the valleys, sometimes so thick that it seems that it is about to rain.
However, the riverbeds that have furrowed the surface of Mars are now dry. Scientists believe that water once really flowed along these channels. Billions of years ago, in their opinion, the atmosphere on Mars was denser, it may have rained heavily. What is today left of this abundance of water covers the polar region in a thin layer and accumulates sparingly in the crevices of the rocks and in the cracks of the soil.
Related materials:
How do drops form when it rains?
Rain on Jupiter
Jupiter - the fifth planet from the Sun - differs from Mars in everything. Jupiter is a giant spinning ball of gas made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. Perhaps deep inside there is a small solid core covered by an ocean of liquid hydrogen.
Jupiter is surrounded by colored bands of clouds. There are also clouds consisting of water, but most of Jupiter's clouds are made of solidified ammonia crystals. There are storms on Jupiter, even strong hurricanes, and, according to scientists, rains and snowfalls from ammonia. But these "snowflakes" melt and evaporate before they reach the surface of the hydrogen ocean.
Will sci-fi predictions come true, according to which heavy-duty robots will collect diamonds on Saturn? ..
The expression "the sky in diamonds" may not be just an allegory, scientists say. Planetologists Mona Delitsky and Kevin Baines have presented arguments that the high pressure inside the giant planets can turn carbon into diamond.
According to the proposed scenario, lightning in the upper atmosphere of gas giants breaks up methane molecules, releasing carbon, which collects into soot particles. The Cassini spacecraft spotted such particles inside Saturn's thunderclouds. Carbon sinking deeper and deeper into the atmosphere of the planet, bypasses the thickening layers of gaseous and liquid hydrogen and approaches the solid core of the planet, being subjected to increasing pressure. The soot turns into graphite and then into diamond. At a temperature of about 8000 ° C, the diamond melts, forming drops.
On Saturn, from 6,000 km from the outer edge of the atmosphere and another 30,000 km inland, there are all conditions for a diamond "hail", Baines says. He estimates that there could be about 10 million tons of diamonds formed in this way on Saturn, most of them no larger than 1 mm in diameter. However, real “cobblestones” can also be found - diamonds up to 10 cm in size.
The scientists' assumptions are based on experimental data describing the phase transformations of carbon and modeling conditions inside the atmospheres of gas giants. “We collected information from various sources and concluded that diamonds can exist in the depths of the atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter,” says Delitsky.
However, Baynes and Delitsky have opponents who raise quite weighty objections. Planetary scientist David Stevenson says that thermodynamics cannot be neglected in such systems. The share of methane in the atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter, which consist mainly of hydrogen, is very small - 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively. The thermodynamics of systems with such a dilution, according to Stevenson, will favor dissolution. Like a couple of crystals of sugar or salt in a glass of water, soot will dissolve in the planet's atmosphere rather than sink to the depths where it can turn into a diamond.
Physicist Luca Ghiringelli, who has modeled similar processes for Uranus and Neptune, is also skeptical about the data presented. He showed that the concentration of carbon on these planets (by the way, several times richer in this element than Saturn and Jupiter) is not enough to build a diamond from scratch, atom by atom. Of course, the appearance of a diamond from already formed soot flakes is not at all the same process, but Giringelli says that it is somewhat premature to talk about “diamond rain” on Saturn.
Well, financiers need not worry yet: in the coming centuries, alien diamonds are unlikely to bring down our terrestrial markets.
The expression "the sky in diamonds" may not be just an allegory, scientists say. Planetologists Mona Delitsky and Kevin Baines have presented arguments that the high pressure inside the giant planets can turn carbon into diamond.
According to the proposed scenario, lightning in the upper atmosphere of gas giants breaks up methane molecules, releasing carbon, which collects into soot particles. The Cassini spacecraft spotted such particles inside Saturn's thunderclouds. Carbon sinking deeper and deeper into the atmosphere of the planet, bypasses the thickening layers of gaseous and liquid hydrogen and approaches the solid core of the planet, being subjected to increasing pressure. The soot turns into graphite and then into diamond. At a temperature of about 8000 ° C, the diamond melts, forming drops.
On Saturn, from 6,000 km from the outer edge of the atmosphere and another 30,000 km inland, there are all conditions for a diamond "hail", Baines says. He estimates that there could be about 10 million tons of diamonds formed in this way on Saturn, most of them no larger than 1 mm in diameter. However, real “cobblestones” can also be found - diamonds up to 10 cm in size.
The scientists' assumptions are based on experimental data describing the phase transformations of carbon and modeling conditions inside the atmospheres of gas giants. "We collected information from various sources and concluded that diamonds could exist deep in the atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter," says Delitsky.
However, Baynes and Delitsky have opponents who raise quite weighty objections. Planetary scientist David Stevenson says that thermodynamics cannot be neglected in such systems. The share of methane in the atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter, which consist mainly of hydrogen, is very small - 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively. The thermodynamics of systems with such a dilution, according to Stevenson, will favor dissolution. Like a couple of crystals of sugar or salt in a glass of water, soot will dissolve in the planet's atmosphere rather than sink to the depths where it can turn into a diamond.
Physicist Luca Ghiringelli, who has modeled similar processes for Uranus and Neptune, is also skeptical about the data presented. He showed that the concentration of carbon on these planets (by the way, several times richer in this element than Saturn and Jupiter) is not enough to build a diamond from scratch, atom by atom. Of course, the appearance of a diamond from already formed soot flakes is not at all the same process, but Giringelli says that it is somewhat premature to talk about "diamond rain" on Saturn.
Well, financiers need not worry yet: in the coming centuries, alien diamonds are unlikely to bring down our terrestrial markets.
