Something bizarre is raining down on Uranus

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FROM: (BGR) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...nus/ar-AASSDEr Something bizarre is raining down on Uranus Joshua Hawkins (2022-01-17) Scientists believe that Neptune and Uranus could both be home to a constant stream of “diamond rain”. The two planets are considered “ice giants”. They’re mostly made of water, methane, and ammonia, which accounts for the icy-like titles we’ve given them. While they might not be as talked about as some of the other giants in our solar system, ice giants are still remarkable. Unfortunately, both Uranus and Neptune are too difficult to study up close. It will probably be years before we can send a spacecraft out to study the planets specifically. Because of that, scientists have used the telescopic observations that we’ve captured to decode more about these planets, including the existence of diamond rain... - FROM: https://www.space.com/diamond-rain-a...uranus-neptune Yes, there is really 'diamond rain' on Uranus and Neptune By Paul Sutter published (2022-01-08] This illustration shows the diamond rain on Neptune. (Image credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) The ice giants Uranus and Neptune don't get nearly enough press; all the attention goes to their larger siblings, mighty Jupiter and magnificent Saturn. At first glance, Uranus and Neptune are just bland, boring balls of uninteresting molecules. But hiding beneath the outer layers of those worlds, there may be something spectacular: a constant rain of diamonds. "ice giants" may conjure the image of a Tolkien-esque creature, but it's the name astronomers use to categorize the outermost planets of the solar system, Uranus and Neptune. Confusingly, though, the name has nothing to do with ice in the sense you would normally recognize it -- as in, say, ice cubes in your drink. The distinction comes from what these planets are made of. The gas giants of the system, Jupiter and Saturn, are made almost entirely of gas: hydrogen and helium. It's through the rapid accretion of those elements that these huge planets managed to swell to their current size. In contrast, Uranus and Neptune are made mostly of water, ammonia and methane. Astronomers commonly call these molecules "ices," but there really isn't a good reason for it, except that when the planets first formed, those elements were likely in solid form...

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