Scientists Re-Create Super-Earths in the Lab

Scientists have successfully re-created super-Earths and the cores of giant planets in the lab, hoping to shed some light on the formation of Earth-like planets and the evolutionary processes involved in creating these exotic worlds.

Described in the journal Science, researchers focused on silica - the key constituent of rock - which, under extreme pressures and temperatures, plays an important part in the formation of planets and interior evolution.

They used laser-driven shock compression and ultrafast diagnostics to measure the melting temperature of silica at 500 GPa, or five million atmospheres. This is the mantle boundary pressure for super-Earth planets - five times the mass of Earth - as well as Uranus and Neptune. It's also the regime of giant impacts that characterize the final stages of planet formation.

"Deep inside planets, extreme density, pressure and temperature strongly modify the properties of the constituent materials," researcher Marius Millot, of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said in a statement. "How much heat solids can sustain before melting under pressure is key to determining a planet's internal structure and evolution, and now we can measure it directly in the laboratory."

The new data showed that mantle silicates and core metal can withstand temperatures above 300-500 GPa before they melt. This suggests that large rocky planets may commonly have long-lived oceans of magma deep inside their core. What's more interesting is that the new results suggest that silica is likely solid inside Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter cores, which sets new precincts on future models of these planets.

Scientists recently discovered more than 1,000 exoplanets orbiting other stars in our galaxy, and now these findings reveal a bit more about these types of planets that exist in our Universe.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).