(June 22, 2015) The
interiors of several of our Solar System’s planets and moons are icy, and ice
has been found on distant extrasolar planets, as well. But these bodies aren’t filled with the
regular kind of water ice that you avoid on the sidewalk in winter. The ice
that’s found inside these objects must exist under extreme pressures and
high-temperatures, and potentially contains salty impurities, too.
New research from a team including Carnegie’s Alexander
Goncharov focuses on the physics underlying the formation of the types of ice
that are stable under the paradoxical-seeming conditions likely to be found in
planetary interiors. Their work, published by Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, could challenge current ideas about the physical
properties found inside icy planetary bodies.