This week at a meeting of the American Astronomical society in Denver (Colorado) a group of scientists introduced new evidence of an interesting hypothesis that on Saturn and Jupiter it can rain from real diamonds. 
Photo from open sources © Kirschner | Shutterstock.com Scientists from around the world have long been trying to find evidence of this hypothesis that extremely high pressure on giant planets capable of turning carbon into diamonds that fall to the surface of the planets in the form of precipitation, the portal reports Nature. According to new data, lightning discharges in the upper layers atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter release atoms from methane molecules carbon. These atoms, connecting with each other, form more large particles of carbon black. Its particles moving slowly down through the dense atmospheric layers of gaseous and liquid hydrogen are exposed to tremendous pressure and temperature. In the process, the soot is compressed to graphite, and then – to the state of hard diamonds. Having reached a temperature of about 8000 ° C the diamond begins to melt, forming liquid diamond droplets that fall to the surface of the planet, the authors of the new research. 
Photos from open sources
© dotshock | Shutterstock.com Scientists estimate that on the planet in this way, about ten million tons can accumulate diamonds, while the size of most of them does not exceed a millimeter and only individual diamond “gradients” reach 10 centimeters. By however, some scholars are extremely skeptical of this hypothesis. So, planetologist David Stevenson of California Institute of Technology notes that methane is only a small fraction in the atmosphere of Jupiter and Saturn, which consists mainly from hydrogen. At such low concentrations, According to the planetologist, the released carbon could hardly get together in soot, but even if that happens, she more likely to dissolve in the atmosphere than to be converted into diamond, like small amounts of salt or sugar dissolve in water at high temperature.
Saturn Jupiter
