Phenomenon of 5 Planets in 1 Row (Photo: Wion News)
JAKARTA, kilat.com- Innards Jupiter full of the remains of a baby planet that the gas giant swallowed as it evolved into the giant we see today, scientists have found. The findings come from the first clear look at the chemistry beneath the planet’s cloudy outer atmosphere.
Despite being the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter reveals very little about how its interior works. Telescopes have captured thousands of images of the swirling cloud eddies in the gas giant’s upper atmosphere, but these Van Gogh-style storms also act as obstructions blocking our view of what lies below.
“Jupiter was one of the first planets to form on Earth solar system us,” in the first few million years after the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago, lead researcher Yamila Miguel, an astrophysicist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told Live Science. However, we are hardly certain about how it formed. , he added.
In the new study, researchers were finally able to peer past Jupiter’s cloud cover using gravity data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. This data allowed the team to map the rocky material in the giant planet’s core, which revealed an unusually high abundance of heavy elements. The chemical makeup shows Jupiter devouring infant planets, or planetesimals, to promote its expansive growth.
Growing gas giants
Jupiter may be mostly a swirling ball of gas today, but it started its life by adding the same rocky material as every other planet in the solar system. As the planet’s gravity pulls in more rock, the rock core becomes so dense that it begins to attract large amounts of gas over long distances, especially hydrogen and helium left over from the birth of the sun to form its massive gas-filled atmosphere.
Also Read:
Russian Space Chief Believes in Alien Life Because of This
There are two competing theories about how Jupiter managed to collect its early rock material. One theory is that Jupiter collects billions of smaller space rocks, which astronomers call pebbles (though these rocks are likely closer to rock than actual gravel).
The opposing theory, supported by findings from the new study, is that Jupiter’s core formed from the absorption of many large space rock planetesimals spanning several miles, which if left undisturbed could potentially become the seeds of smaller rocky planets. like Earth or Mars could evolve.
However, until now it cannot be said with certainty which of these theories is correct. “Since we can’t directly observe how Jupiter formed, we have to piece the pieces together with the information we have today,” Miguel said. “And this is not an easy task.”
Explore planets
To try to settle the debate, researchers need to build a picture of Jupiter’s interior.
“On Earth, we use seismographs to study the interior of the planet using earthquakes,” Miguel said.
But Jupiter doesn’t have a surface to lay such a device on, and Jupiter’s core is unlikely to have had much tectonic activity, he added.
Instead, the researchers built a computer model of Jupiter’s innards by combining data, most of which was gathered by Juno, as well as some data from his predecessor Galileo.
The probe measures the planet’s gravitational field at various points around its orbit. The data show that the rock material accreted by Jupiter has a high concentration of heavy elements, which form a solid solid and, therefore, have a stronger gravitational effect than a gas atmosphere. This data allowed the team to map slight variations in the planet’s gravity, which helped them see where rocky material was inside the planet.
“Juno provided very accurate gravity data that helped us limit the distribution of material in Jupiter’s interior,” said Miguel.
“This is very unique data that we can only get with a spacecraft orbiting around the planet.”
Also Read:
Scary! European Space Authority Says Something Is Watching Us From Mars
The researchers’ model reveals that there is an equivalent of between 11 and 30 Earth masses of heavy elements in Jupiter (3% to 9% of Jupiter’s mass), which is much more than expected.
Gravel vs. planetesimal
The new models point to the origin of Jupiter-devouring planetesimals because the pebble accretion theory cannot explain such high concentrations of heavy elements, Miguel said. If Jupiter had originally formed from gravel, the start of the gas accretion process, once the planet was large enough, would immediately end the rocky accretion stage.
This is because the growing layer of gas will create a pressure barrier that stops additional gravel from being pulled into the planet, Miguel explains. This restricted rocky accretion phase would likely have given Jupiter a significantly reduced abundance of heavy metals, or metallicity, than the researchers calculated.
However, planetesimals may enter Jupiter’s core even after the accretion phase has begun; that’s because the gravitational pull on the rock will be greater than the pressure exerted by the gas. The simultaneous addition of rocky material and gas proposed by the planetesimal theory is the only explanation for Jupiter’s high levels of heavy elements, the researchers said.
The study also revealed another interesting finding: Jupiter’s interior does not mix well into its upper atmosphere, which is contrary to what scientists previously thought. New models of Jupiter’s interior show that the heavy elements absorbed by the planet remain largely close to its core and lower atmosphere.
Also Read:
NASA Sends Yeast to Space to Measure Impact of Electromagnetic Radiation on DNA
The researchers assumed that convection mixed Jupiter’s atmosphere, so hotter gases near the planet’s core would rise to the outer atmosphere before cooling and falling back down; if this were the case, the heavy elements would be mixed more evenly throughout the atmosphere.
However, it is possible that certain regions of Jupiter may have minor convection effects, and more research is needed to determine exactly what is happening inside the gas giant’s atmosphere, Miguel said.
The researchers’ findings could also change the origin story of other planets in the solar system.
“Jupiter was the most influential planet in the formation of the solar system,” said Miguel. Its gravitational pull helped shape the size and orbit of its cosmic neighbour, so determining how it happened has an important knock-on effect for other planets, he added. The findings also point to potential planetesimal origins for the other gas giants in the solar system: Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Other gas worlds in other star systems may also have formed by devouring planetesimals rather than gravel, meaning they may also have higher levels of metal than their appearance suggests. It’s therefore important that when we discover these new worlds, which are being searched for using NASA’s James Webb Telescope, we don’t judge them by their cloudy blanket, the researchers said. (nda)
Also Read:
Expensive Airline Tickets Ahead of Eid al-Adha, KPPU Calls Airlines
–
