Researchers have discovered what appear to be the skeletal remnants of infant planets within the gray interior of Jupiter

The discovery ends a discussion that has been going on for a very long time about how the gas giant was formed.

 

Scientists have discovered that Jupiter's interior is rife with the remnants of more minor planets that the gas giant ingested as it grew into the behemoth we see today. These planetary fragments may be found throughout Jupiter's interior. The discovery was made after scientists got their first unobstructed look at the chemistry below the planet's hazy upper atmosphere.

 

Although Jupiter is the giant planet in the solar system, it has not been very forthcoming with information regarding its internal workings. The spinning vortex clouds in the gas giant's upper atmosphere have been captured in thousands of photos by telescopes, but these Van Gogh-like storms also operate as a barrier, limiting our view of what is below.

 

According to lead researcher Yamila Miguel, an astrophysicist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who spoke with Live Science about their findings, "Jupiter was one of the first planets to form in our solar system" in the first few million years after the solar system took shape approximately 4.5 billion years ago. She continued by saying that almost nothing is known about how it came into being.

 

Using gravitational data acquired by NASA's Juno space probe, the researchers in the new study could finally look beyond Jupiter's obstructing cloud cover. Using this data, the team created a map of the rocky material at the core of the massive planet, which revealed an unexpectedly high number of heavy elements. According to Jupiter's chemical composition, it appears that it ate more minor planets called planetesimals to fuel its rapid expansion.

 

Growing a gas giant

 

Even though Jupiter is primarily a mass of spinning gas at this point in its history, it began its existence by accumulating rocky material, just like every other solar planet. As the planet's gravity pulled in more and more rocks, the rocky core became so dense that it began drawing in large amounts of gas from far away. The majority of this gas consists of hydrogen and helium that was left over from the birth of the sun, and it was used to form the planet's enormous atmosphere, which is filled with gas.

 

Two hypotheses vie with one another to explain how Jupiter managed to amass its first supply of rocky material. One hypothesis explaining how Jupiter formed is the accumulation of billions of smaller space rocks known as pebbles (though these rocks are likely closer in size to boulders than actual pebbles).

 

The alternative theory, supported by the new study's findings, is that Jupiter's core was formed from the absorption of many planetesimals. Planetesimals are large space rocks that span several miles and, had they been left undisturbed, could have potentially acted as seeds from which more minor rocky planets like Earth or Mars could have developed. Jupiter's core was formed from the absorption of many planetesimals.

 

However, up until this point, it has been impossible to say with absolute certainty which of these hypotheses is the correct one. Miguel explained that because we cannot directly watch the process by which Jupiter is produced, we must piece together the puzzle using the knowledge that is currently available to us. "And this is not a simple undertaking."

 

The researchers needed to construct an image of the interior of Jupiter so that they might try to put an end to the disagreement. Miguel explained that seismographs are utilized on Earth to investigate the planet's interior by utilizing earthquakes. However, Jupiter does not have a surface that might be used for mounting such equipment, and she said that it is highly improbable that Jupiter's core has considerable tectonic activity.

 

Instead, the researchers constructed computer models of Jupiter's interior by merging data obtained mainly by Juno with some data than its predecessor, Galileo, collected. These models were used to investigate Jupiter's internal structure. The probes measured the planet's gravitational field at various times throughout their orbit around the planet. According to the findings, the rocky material that Jupiter has been accreting contains a high concentration of heavy elements. These components combine to form dense solids, which significantly influence Jupiter's gravitational field more than the gaseous atmosphere. Because of this data, the team could map out minor fluctuations in the planet's gravity, which assisted them in determining the locations of rocky material within the planet itself.

 

Miguel stated, "Juno supplied highly accurate gravity data that allowed us to constrain the distribution of the material in Jupiter's interior." "Juno helped us constrain the material's distribution in Jupiter's interior." The scientist explained that "it is particular information that can only be obtained by having a spacecraft in orbit around the planet

 

The researchers' models showed that Jupiter has heavy elements equivalent to between 3 and 9 percent of Jupiter's total mass, which is significantly higher than anyone had anticipated. This is the equivalent of between 11 and 30 Earth masses.

 

Pebbles vs. planetesimals

 

Miguel stated that the pebble-accretion explanation could not account for such a high concentration of heavy elements; thus, the new models point to Jupiter's origin as a planetesimal gobbling. The rocky accretion stage would have been promptly terminated if Jupiter had initially formed from pebbles since the beginning of the gas accretion phase; once the planet had reached a sufficiently large size, it would have instantly started. Miguel said that this was because the expanding layer of gas would have formed a pressure barrier that prevented other stones from being dragged inside the planet. If Jupiter's rocky accretion phase had been significantly slowed down, as the researchers hypothesized, the planet would have had a significantly lower quantity of heavy metals, also known as metallicity.

 

Even after the gas accretion phase had begun, it was still possible for planetesimals to cling to Jupiter's core. This is because the gravitational pull on the rocks would have been more potent than the pressure exerted by the gas. According to the study team's findings, the only plausible explanation for Jupiter's high levels of heavy elements is the planetesimal theory's postulated simultaneous accretion of rocky material and gas.

 

Another surprising result of the research was that Jupiter's interior does not mix very well with the upper atmosphere of the planet, which contradicts what scientists had previously anticipated would happen. The newly developed model of Jupiter's interior reveals that the heavy elements that the planet has ingested have, for the most part, remained near its core and its lower atmosphere. Researchers had previously presumed that convection was responsible for mixing Jupiter's atmosphere. They believed that hotter gas closer to the planet's core would ascend to its outer atmosphere before cooling and dropping back down.

 

According to Miguel, though, it is possible that some regions of Jupiter have a little convection impact, and additional research is required to identify precisely what is happening inside the gas giant's atmosphere.

 

The researchers' results can alter our understanding of how other planets in the solar system came to be. Miguel stated that Jupiter had the most significant impact on the solar system's development out of all of the planets. Identifying how it came to have crucial knock-on repercussions for other planets because its gravitational pull contributed to shaping the sizes and orbits of its cosmic neighbors. She noted that this is why studying how it came to be is so important. In addition, the data points to the possibility of a planetesimal beginning for the three other gas giants in the solar system: Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

 

It is possible that other gaseous worlds in other star systems also developed by eating up planetesimals rather than pebbles. If this is the case, these worlds may likewise have higher metallicity than their appearance suggests. According to the researchers' findings, it is crucial that when we discover these new worlds, which are being looked for with the help of NASA's James Webb Telescope, we must not judge them based on the foggy covers they have.

 

The research was presented as an online article in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics on June 8th.

Article source : https://www.livescience.com/jupiter-ate-baby-planets-while-growing

Image source  : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/tata-surya-matahari-air-raksa-venus-439046/

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