WHAT’S AT THE CENTRE OF JUPITER AND SATURN?
Of all the planets in our Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn are perhaps the most mischaracterised. Known as gas giants, many may naturally assume that these two behemoths consist of nothing but gas and clouds to their cores. While it’s true that they mostly contain hydrogen and helium, these giants are much more than the Milky Way’s two big balloons. Thanks to their phenomenal sizes, the planets accrue enough heat and pressure to compound their gases into liquid states. Under these unearthly conditions, helium and hydrogen flow in great seas just below the outer gaseous layers of the planets. Jupiter, the larger of the two giants, is thought to be home to the largest ocean in the Solar System – one made of pure hydrogen.
“Jupiter and Saturn are mostly made of hydrogen and helium, and this is the reason they are known as gas giant planets,” says Ravit Helled, a professor in the department of
