In 1980, the Voyager spacecraft made a big revelation about the two important planets of the solar system, Uranus and Neptune. At that time, based on the information received from Voyager, scientists had concluded that there was a large amount of ice on the two planets. As is usually the case, ice is used to mean water ice. Here too it was believed that both the planets were covered with water ice. But, a new study has shown that these planets may also contain substantial amounts of methane ice.
It is being told that this discovery can help in solving the puzzle of how both the planets were formed. Uranus and Neptune have been a source of mystery due to their great distance from Earth and the limited data available. Astronomers have developed models based on these observations, which suggest that the planets have a thin hydrogen and helium envelope, a buried superionic layer of water and ammonia, and a rocky core, with a water component making them “ice giants” or Gives the name “Ice Demon”.
The new study challenges this notion by considering the formation processes of Uranus and Neptune. According to the report, as these planets formed from the primordial dust cloud around the young Sun, they may have swallowed bodies similar to present-day comets, also called planetesimals.
In 1980, Voyager data revealed that both planets were ice giants. (Symbolic photo: NASA)
So how is it possible to build an ice giant from ice-free building blocks? To resolve this discrepancy, researchers created hundreds of thousands of models of the interiors of Uranus and Neptune, considering different compositions, including iron, water and methane. They found that models that included methane best matched the observed characteristics of the planets.
The presence of methane may help resolve the paradox of how these “ice giants” came to be. Scientists propose that methane ice formed when hydrogen in growing planets chemically reacted with carbon, which would have grown in greater quantities in developing planets. Future missions sent to these planets will be able to confirm these results.
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FIRST PUBLISHED: April 19, 2024, 17:26 IST
