Being the most outer planets in our solar system, Neptune and Uranus have often been pushed to the wayside — at least when the latter isn’t mentioned as the butt of a joke.
But a new study by scientists has put a glamorous spin on these forgotten blue giants: forecasts of diamonds underneath their planetary surfaces.
According to Science Alert, researchers conducted a laboratory experiment that suggested a remarkable chemical process likely takes place deep inside the atmospheres of Neptune and Uranus. The new study was published in the journal Nature in May 2020.
Based on data gathered about these planets, scientists know that Neptune and Uranus both possess extreme environmental conditions thousands of miles below their surfaces, where it can reach a heat of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit and severe pressure levels, despite their frigid atmospheres which have earned them the nickname “ice giants”.
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A team of international scientists, including researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, conducted an experiment to closely mimic the interior conditions of the planets and establish what goes on inside them.
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