At least that is what planetary scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab inSouthern California seem to think after conducting extensive research, the results of which were presented at the 45th annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Scientists that was held in Denver, Colorado from October 6-11th, 2013.
It is a well-known fact that about half of a percent of Saturn's atmosphere comprises of methane. Also, thanks to images sent in by NASA spacecraft Cassini, which has been orbiting the ringed planet since 2004, researchers know that Saturn is susceptible to giant lightning storms and even, hurricanes.
Using this information, Kevin and the study's co-author - planetary scientist Mona Delitsky, deduced that the lightning burns up the methane that is present in the atmosphere and transforms the odorless, colorless gas into something we are all familiar with - soot or carbon. As clouds of the black carbon are 'raining' down on the planet, they clump together and form graphite which gets subjected to intense pressure from the atmosphere as it gets closer to the planet's core and transforms into the shiny precious stones that we lovingly call diamonds. While Jupiter's atmosphere comprises of only 0.2% methane the scientists believe that a similar phenomenon occurs there too.
Not all scientists are convinced about this new study. University of Arizona planetary scientist William Hubbard thinks that due to the relatively low amount of methane in the atmosphere of the two planets, not enough soot is produced for diamond production - He thinks that whatever little is created, is destroyed by the ever increasing pressure and high temperatures encountered by the soot as it is falling.
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