Scientists have discovered methane deep within Uranus, indicating that this blue planet contains more gases than previously thought.
According to the Daily Mail, initial tests on Uranus show that this planet is primarily composed of helium, hydrogen, and methane, but new research has uncovered surprising findings that exceed earlier expectations.
Uranus. (Image source: Shutterstock).
Specifically, researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology and the University of California, Santa Cruz, revealed that while findings indicate Uranus is entirely made up of ice, in reality, this planet contains about 10% methane gas.
The strange aspect of methane is that it is not in gas form but is frozen or viscous and resides in the core of Uranus.
The study suggests that classifying Uranus as a giant ice planet may no longer be accurate, and such a significant amount of methane could be a factor in the planet’s formation.
Researchers created hundreds of thousands of models of Uranus’s interior and identified models that closely match the mass and radius of the planet. Each model had varying contents of methane, helium, and hydrogen. They confirmed that the models with gas elements most similar to Uranus.
Scientists do not have much information about Uranus due to the planet being 3 billion kilometers away from Earth. However, as the Solar System is constantly in motion, this distance changes daily.
Historically, only the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in the 1980s. Since then, scientists have always believed that this planet is entirely made of ice.
However, this new discovery may shed light on the unknown aspects of this distant planet, as well as the nearby gas giants, including Neptune. This also provides clues for scientists to verify the formation process and better explain the elements that make up this planet.
