Core of a gas planet seen for the first time.

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Astronomers have found a previously unseen type of object circling a distant star.

It could be the core of a gas world like Jupiter, offering an unprecedented glimpse inside one of these giant planets.

Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn have a solid planetary core beneath a thick envelope of hydrogen and helium gas.

But no-one has previously been able to see what these solid cores are like.

Now, a team of astronomers has discovered what they think are the rocky innards of a giant planet that's missing its thick atmosphere. Their findings have been published in the journal Nature.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53250819
 

NonHumanOnboard

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Could be a gradual transition from gas to (a thick) liquid to solid. With the solid core's radius between 2/3 to 3/4. The liquid layer could explain the inability of probes to detect anything, just as the ocean is responsible for the attenuation of radio waves. I mean, such a strong gravity could not be caused by a gaseous content alone, rather by a dense solid mass, could it?
 

jedidia

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I mean, such a strong gravity could not be caused by a gaseous content alone, rather by a dense solid mass, could it?

It's the other way around. Such gravity creates pressures that don't allow any gas to stay in gaseous form.
 

Challenger007

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So what do we end up with? How big can gravity be on planets like Jupiter? As I understand it, there is such a content under the gas layer that does not allow the probe beams to penetrate deeper to study the inner structure of the planet. Correct me if I drew the wrong conclusions. I'm still new to astronomy.
 

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Probably, it can be turned into a black hole, but the strangest thing is that this event was not accompanied by an explosion, which scientists must have noticed.
 

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Probably, it can be turned into a black hole, but the strangest thing is that this event was not accompanied by an explosion, which scientists must have noticed.

It is far away in terms of density even from becoming a black dwarf star like object. There are many stages of compression possible before you even get close to a black hole.
 

jedidia

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So what do we end up with? How big can gravity be on planets like Jupiter?
The pressure is obviously not enough to ignite fusion, but enough to press carbon into diamond.
Probably, it can be turned into a black hole, but the strangest thing is that this event was not accompanied by an explosion, which scientists must have noticed.
We're a couple order of magnitudes away from the Schwarzschild radius, I'm afraid.
 

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The pressure is obviously not enough to ignite fusion, but enough to press carbon into diamond.

I believe that in a couple of decades we will get more specific answers to questions about what atmospheric pressure is on Jupiter, what gases prevail in its atmosphere.
 
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