Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn may reportedly have strange dark hydrogen lurking within them. According to a new study, the mysterious hydrogen could be concealed between the gaseous hydrogen in the gas giant planets' clouds and the liquid metal hydrogen in their core.
"This dark hydrogen layer was unexpected and inconsistent with what modeling research had led us to believe about the change from hydrogen gas to metallic hydrogen inside of celestial objects," said Alexander Goncharov, co-author of the study and physicist at Washington DC's Carnegie Institution for Science. "This observation would explain how heat can easily escape from gas giants like Saturn".
According to the study, which was published in the journal Physical Review Letters, Goncharov and his team simulated a condition found inside Jupiter and Saturn by using a laser heated diamond anvil cell. The scientists discovered an intermediate phase of hydrogen after probing the element with temperatures as high as 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and pressures that ranged from 10,000 to 1.5 million times that found in the atmosphere of our planet.
To read more, click here.