Uranus And Neptune Might Have Deep Oceans, New Study Reveals

The interior makeup of our galaxy’s icy giants Uranus and Neptune has long been a cause for confusion among scientists. However, new findings from a study by Burkhard Militzer are now questioning previous beliefs about the makeup of our icy planets.

Details On The Possible Makeup Of Uranus and Neptune

Field readings collected from the NASA Voyager 2 back in the 1980s revealed that the icy giants both have disorganized magnetic fields. Following this reveal, various studies around the two planets have not been able to explain this phenomenon, up until the recently revealed findings from Militzer’s study.

Burkhard Militzer is a professor of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and his study into Uranus and Neptune’s disorderly magnetic field reveals something interesting. According to his study, both planets display traits of a principle known as immiscibility, which is the inability of substances to mix.

The study which Militzer kicked off about 10 years ago is finally able to shed some light on the icy giants. From his study, Militzer argues that elements present on icy planets like water (H₂O), methane (CH₄), and ammonia (NH₃) don’t mix.

Militizer says that on the icy planets, “the hydrogen-rich layer goes on top, and the heavier material stays below.” This results in the disorganized magnetic field readings from the NASA Voyager 2 about 40 years ago.

Under the 3000-mile thick atmosphere of Uranus is a 5000-mile layer of water-rich fluids which sits above a hydrocarbon-rich layer before reaching the planet’s rocky core. This is similar to the makeup of Neptune, except that its atmosphere is thinner, and its rocky core is larger than that of Uranus.

How Was This Finding Made?

To reach this conclusion on the makeup of Uranus and Neptune, Militizer put various computer models to use. The models simulate the conditions at pressures reaching 8000°F which is 3.4 million times Earth’s atmospheric pressure and temperature.

After expanding the simulation to 540 atoms from 100 atoms (used 10 years ago) Militizer was able to make some remarkable findings. With this expansion, Militizer said that after observing the model on a good day “the water had separated from the carbon and nitrogen.”

This spit reflected the behaviour of the icy planets in our solar system. With this finding, we get some insight into the odd magnetic fields of the icy giants.

While this finding sheds some light on Uranus and Neptune, there needs to be more work on the icy giants to help us better understand their formation. A space mission to one of the two icy planets will help support or contradict this finding from Militizer.