Layered interiors of Uranus and Neptune (IMAGE)

University of California - Berkeley

Layered interiors of Uranus and Neptune

Caption

Models for the interior structures of the ice-giant planets Uranus and Neptune have two distinct, intermediate layers: an upper, water-rich convecting layer where disorganized magnetic fields are generated, and a lower, non-convecting hydrocarbon-rich layer. New computer simulations show that icy materials naturally separate at high pressure and temperature into these two layers.

Credit

Burkhard Militzer, UC Berkeley

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