New Clues About Jupiter’s Mysterious Core

A new paper led by Dr. Thomas Sandnes, Durham University, and co-authored by an international team of scientists, including SETI Institute Affiliate, Dr. Jacob Kegerreis, challenges a proposed explanation for what produced Jupiter's dilute core, which gradually transitions into the envelope, with a smoothly changing mixture of the heavy core materials and the hydrogen and helium. The previous theory was that the gas giant's core was caused by a collision with another planet, causing its core material to mix with its outer region. The team used computer simulations and found no evidence that such a collision would explain Jupiter’s core. Instead, they think the planet's core formed through gradual processes as it accumulated material over millions of years, rather than as the result of a single, catastrophic impact.

Understanding how Jupiter formed offers insights beyond the planet itself. Saturn, another gas giant in our Solar system, also appears to have a dilute core. And similar planetary structures could exist in planets across the galaxy.

“This helps us to better understand what can happen in the deep interior of planets like Jupiter and Saturn during the messy process of planet formation,” said co-author Dr. Jacob Kegerreis of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames. “It also shows how powerful modern simulations have become for unlocking the hidden stories inside giant planets.”

The study was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.