Both Uranus and Neptune Have

Really Bizarre Magnetic Fields

The magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune are really, seriously messed up.
And we don’t know why.

The magnetic fields of most planets (if they even have one) are pretty
straightforward. The planet spins in a certain direction, and the field roughly
lines up with that direction of spin. Sure, the fields may wander a little bit
here and there, but generally speaking everything makes sense.

And then there are the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune. In the case of
Uranus, the planet itself spins almost perpendicular to the rest of the solar
system, but its magnetic field is in almost the usual up-down direction. With
Neptune, the magnetic field is a full 47 degrees away from the spin direction.
In addition, the magnetic fields are offset away from the centers of both
planets.

What’s going on?

The magnetic fields of Earth, Uranus and Neptune. Credit: ETH Zurich / T. Kimura

Scientists have long guessed that something funky is happening within the
planets. Both planets are thought to host large convective layers,
somewhere between the core and the atmosphere, where super-pressurized
water and methane exist in a “superionic state”, with properties of both
liquids and solids. The superionic water and methane circulate in up-down
patterns, and since they are charged, the planets might generate their
magnetic fields there, rather than in the cores.

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To test this idea, Tomoaki Kimura and Motohiko Murakami from the
Department of Earth Sciences at ETH Zurich studied the properties of
ammonia in a super-pressurized state using a diamond cell anvil. By
squeezing the sample and heating it to over 2,000 degrees Celsius, they
were able to recreate the interiors of the ice giants.

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They found that the superionic ammonia might indeed be stable at those
pressures and temperatures, suggesting that it might exist inside those
planets. But crucially, the ammonia was not viscous enough to form a stable
layer deeper within the planet. In other words, for the convective layer idea to
work, it needs to sit on top of a stable layer, and it seems difficult to get
ammonia to play both roles. And without a convective layer, we can’t explain
the magnetic field structure.

For now, the mystery of the ice giant magnetic fields goes unsolved.

The post Both Uranus and Neptune Have Really Bizarre Magnetic Fields
appeared first on Universe Today.

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Source: https://www.universetoday.com/151135/both-uranus-and-neptune-
have-really-bizarre-magnetic-fields/