Post by rubl on Aug 21, 2017 22:55:32 GMT 7
Some may like it when it's raining men, but on Neptune it's raining diamonds. 
"In Neptune, it's raining diamonds
International team of researchers uncovers the inner workings of cosmic ice giants
In cooperation with colleagues from Germany and the United States, researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have managed to demonstrate 'diamond showers' forming in the ice giants of our solar system. Using the ultra-strong X-ray laser and other facilities at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California, they simulated the conditions inside the cosmic giants. For the first time ever, they were able to observe the fission of hydrocarbon and the conversion of carbon into diamonds in real time. They published their results in the journal Nature Astronomy (DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0219)."
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/hd-ini082117.php
Mind you in 1999 it was already discussed as a likely possibility
"
It's Raining Diamonds on Neptune and Uranus
By Robert Sanders, Public Affairs
Posted October 6, 1999
If experiments at Berkeley are any indication, future explorers of our solar system may well find diamonds hailing down through the atmospheres of Neptune and Uranus.
These planets contain a high proportion of methane, which campus researchers have now shown can turn into diamond at the high temperatures and pressures found inside these planets.
"Once these diamonds form, they fall like raindrops or hailstones toward the center of the planet," said Laura Robin Benedetti, a graduate student in physics."
www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1999/1006/diamonds.html
"In Neptune, it's raining diamonds
International team of researchers uncovers the inner workings of cosmic ice giants
In cooperation with colleagues from Germany and the United States, researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have managed to demonstrate 'diamond showers' forming in the ice giants of our solar system. Using the ultra-strong X-ray laser and other facilities at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California, they simulated the conditions inside the cosmic giants. For the first time ever, they were able to observe the fission of hydrocarbon and the conversion of carbon into diamonds in real time. They published their results in the journal Nature Astronomy (DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0219)."
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/hd-ini082117.php
Mind you in 1999 it was already discussed as a likely possibility
"
It's Raining Diamonds on Neptune and Uranus
By Robert Sanders, Public Affairs
Posted October 6, 1999
If experiments at Berkeley are any indication, future explorers of our solar system may well find diamonds hailing down through the atmospheres of Neptune and Uranus.
These planets contain a high proportion of methane, which campus researchers have now shown can turn into diamond at the high temperatures and pressures found inside these planets.
"Once these diamonds form, they fall like raindrops or hailstones toward the center of the planet," said Laura Robin Benedetti, a graduate student in physics."
www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1999/1006/diamonds.html
