Noble Gases in Jupiter and Saturn (IMAGE)
Caption
Goncharov, McWilliams, and the rest of the team's work on noble gases could help solve the mystery of why Saturn emits more heat from its interior than would be expected. In Jupiter and Saturn, helium would be insulating near the surface and turn metal-like at depths close to both planet's cores, where it is also predicted to be dissolved in hydrogen. But neon behaved differently in the laboratory conditions mimicking the two gas giants. In Saturn, it would remain an insulator even at the core. As such, an ocean-like envelope of undissolved neon could collect deep within the planet and prevent the erosion of Saturn's core compared to its neighbor, Jupiter.
Credit
University of Edinburgh (graphics), NASA (photos)
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