by Jupiter, Saturn and numerous giant exoplanets discovered to date consist mostly of hydrogen and helium.
In 1977, planetary scientists predicted the existence of helium rain layer inside such planets.
However, achieving the experimental conditions necessary to validate this hypothesis hasn’t been possible — until now.
“We discovered that helium rain is real, and can occur both in Jupiter and Saturn,” said Dr. Marius Millot, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“This is important to help planetary scientists decipher how these planets formed and evolved, which is critical to understanding how the Solar System formed.”
“Jupiter is especially interesting because it’s thought to have helped protect the inner-planet region where Earth formed.
We may be here because of Jupiter,” added University of California, Berkeley’s Professor Raymond Jeanloz.
Source
In 1977, planetary scientists predicted the existence of helium rain layer inside such planets.
However, achieving the experimental conditions necessary to validate this hypothesis hasn’t been possible — until now.
“We discovered that helium rain is real, and can occur both in Jupiter and Saturn,” said Dr. Marius Millot, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“This is important to help planetary scientists decipher how these planets formed and evolved, which is critical to understanding how the Solar System formed.”
“Jupiter is especially interesting because it’s thought to have helped protect the inner-planet region where Earth formed.
We may be here because of Jupiter,” added University of California, Berkeley’s Professor Raymond Jeanloz.
Source
