Scientists have discovered that Uranus is not completely filled with ice

Scientists have found methane gas deep inside Uranus, showing that the blue planet contains more gas than previously thought.

According to the Daily Mail (UK), initial tests on Uranus showed that the planet is mainly made of helium, hydrogen and methane , but new research has discovered strange things beyond expectations. hope before.

Uranus. (Illustration photo: Shutterstock).

Specifically, researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology and the University of California Santa Cruz revealed that although the finding shows that Uranus is made entirely of ice, the planet actually has about 10% methane. .

The strange thing about methane is that it is not gaseous but frozen or mushy and located in the core of Uranus.

The study suggests that the classification of Uranus as an ice giant may no longer be accurate and that such a large amount of methane may have been a factor in the formation of the planet.

Researchers have created hundreds of thousands of models of the interior of Uranus and determined patterns in the planet's mass and radius. Each model has different methane, helium and hydrogen content. They claim the models with the most gaseous elements are most similar to Uranus.

Scientists do not have much information about Uranus because this planet is located 3 billion km from Earth. However, because the Solar System is constantly moving, this distance changes every day.

Historically, only the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in the 1980s. Since then, scientists have always believed that this planet is made entirely of ice.

However, this new discovery could shed light on the unknown about this distant planet, as well as giant planets near it, including Neptune. This is also a clue to help scientists verify how it was formed and better explain the elements that make up this planet.