London: Jupiter’s core is not solid as commonly believed, but rather diffuse and scattered, formed through a more gradual accumulation process, unlike previous assumptions, a new British study has revealed.

According to Qatar News Agency, the study published by the UK Royal Astronomical Society indicated that Jupiter did not form from a massive collision at the dawn of the solar system. Instead, it formed through a gradual accumulation of heavy and light elements, gathering diverse materials from its surroundings, including rocks, heavy minerals, and light gases, simultaneously during its formation.

The study further clarified that instead of heavy materials settling into a separate solid core, they gradually mixed with the gaseous envelope. This mixing resulted in what is now known as a “fuzzy core” that extends over a wide area rather than forming a compact solid mass.

The findings of the study are more consistent with gravity measurements from the Juno probe, which pointed out that the core’s mass is no
t concentrated in a small solid center but distributed over a large region within the planet.

According to previous conventional views, Jupiter’s formation from a massive collision in the early solar system created a dense solid core surrounded by a vast gaseous envelope. This formation process was thought to have drawn in surrounding gases, namely hydrogen and helium, to form this giant planet.

Overall, Jupiter has maintained a special status in astronomy for decades as the largest and most mysterious planet in the solar system. Despite space observatories such as Galileo and Juno providing images and information about its atmosphere and massive storms, the question of the formation of the core of this giant planet remained unanswered.