The Sky Screams Liquid Diamonds
On Neptune and Uranus, the atmosphere is so heavy it crushes methane gas into solid diamonds that sink like hailstones.
What if the rain outside could pay off your mortgage? On Neptune and Uranus, the sky literally rains diamonds large enough to be held in your hand.
These gas giants are packed with methane. When lightning strikes or the pressure reaches a certain threshold, the carbon atoms in the methane get squeezed.
Deep in the atmosphere, the pressure is 1.5 million times greater than Earth’s surface. This force crushes the carbon into solid diamond crystals. These gems then drift downward through the layers of the planet like heavy, sparkling snow.
It gets weirder as you go deeper. Once these diamonds reach the core, the heat is so intense they likely melt.
This creates an ocean of liquid diamond. Floating on top of this liquid are solid diamond "icebergs" that never melt. It is a world where the most expensive stone on Earth is as common as a mud puddle.
Some researchers believe that on Saturn, over 1,000 tons of diamonds are produced this way every single year.
The Planets Where it Rains Solid Diamonds
Deep inside Jupiter and Saturn, the sky literally rains gemstones as large as hail.
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