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Giant Ice Planets Have More Water Than Previously Thought
Saturday, March 24, 2012 16:37
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A new study shows that current extimates of ice-giant planetary interiors overstate water's compressibility by as much as 30 percent. The findings could dramatically change our understanding of the physical properties of such worlds.
"Our results question science's understanding of the internal structure of these planets," said Sandia lead author Marcus Knudson, "and should require revisiting essentially all the modeling of ice giants within and outside our solar system."
An accurate estimate of water's shrinking volume under the huge gravitational pressures of large planets is essential to astrophysicists trying to model the evolution of the Universe…. Rest of article with all images here:
