It's raining diamonds on two ice giant planets in our solar system

Uranus and Neptune have so many similarities and therefore the two ice giant planets are referred to as twins. They have high levels of methane in their atmosphere, which gives them a blue appearance. Methane consists of carbon and temperature and pressure conditions are so extreme on these two planets that the carbon atoms could be crushed into diamonds in their atmospheres.

In a podcast hosted by NASA, Naomi Rowe-Gurney, a postdoctoral research associate at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center through Howard University, explained: "Well, methane has carbon in it and that carbon can occur by itself and also be crushed by the immense pressures that happen, like, deep in the atmosphere, so much deeper than the levels that I look at. And inside the planet, when it gets really hot and really dense, these, these diamonds form and accumulate, and then they become even heavier. And that means that they kind of rain down in the atmosphere."

She further added that it's not the rain that we see here on Earth because these pressures are extreme, and you'll never be able to get there as a human. So even if these diamonds do exist, we would never be able to go and grab them.

It's raining diamonds? 💎 Maybe! Temperature and pressure conditions are so extreme on Neptune and Uranus that carbon atoms could be crushed into diamonds in their atmospheres.Learn more on the latest episode of "Gravity Assist" podcast HERE >> https://t.co/WqUfmAkawl

— NASA Marshall (@NASA_Marshall) July 2, 2022

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will explore the two ice giants of our solar system along with many other exciting and mysterious objects in our universe. The powerful telescope, which is currently moving through the final phases of commissioning its science instruments. will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.