Andrew Peterson

Entry #5
Peering into giant planets from in and out of this world

By: Lawrence Livermore

Published: July 18, 2014

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2014/07/peering-into-giant-planets-from-in-and-out-of-
this-world

This article talked about a scientist named Lawrence Livermore who, for the first
time, recreated the conditions that exist inside of our giant gas planets along with those
outside of our universe. If researchers can re-create these planets they can accurately
measure material properties that control these planets. We can more deeply understand
how and why these huge planets formed so many years ago. How this machine works,
is they use the largest laser in the world and team it up with 175 other lasers and focus
the energy towards a diamond. The diamond, because its the least compressible
material known to man, is vaporized in less than 10 billionths of a second. Because we
can do, we are provided with the capability to reproduce the pressure conditions in deep
planetary cores.

I found this article interesting because I feel like knowing just a little bit more
about how these planets came to be and what makes them tick, gets us that much
closer to further exploration. One of our biggest problems with these huge planets is the
pressure that they maintain. Because they are so big, they have so much more gravity
and it makes it almost impossible for robots to check out the area more intensely, let
alone humans. But if we can understand the heat and pressure more in depth, then
maybe we can open up many more doors for the future of space exploration.