Worlds in Collision
Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:25 am
https://www.cnet.com/news/jupiter-may-h ... ng-planet/
"NASA's Juno spacecraft has given us unreal views of the gas giant Jupiter. But Juno isn't just a member of the interplanetary paparazzi, it's a fully capable cosmic lab with instruments designed to probe the mammoth planet. After taking precise measurements of Jupiter's gravitational field, the spacecraft has discovered that the planet's core isn't as dense as expected.
Now, scientists have proposed an almost-apocalyptic reason for this: A "planetary embryo" with 10 times more mass than Earth (and almost as much mass as Uranus) could have slammed into the largest planet in the solar system and disturbed its core."
"NASA's Juno spacecraft has given us unreal views of the gas giant Jupiter. But Juno isn't just a member of the interplanetary paparazzi, it's a fully capable cosmic lab with instruments designed to probe the mammoth planet. After taking precise measurements of Jupiter's gravitational field, the spacecraft has discovered that the planet's core isn't as dense as expected.
Now, scientists have proposed an almost-apocalyptic reason for this: A "planetary embryo" with 10 times more mass than Earth (and almost as much mass as Uranus) could have slammed into the largest planet in the solar system and disturbed its core."