Pollack et al. 1977 showed that this planet cannot have a fully convective interior since it would cool to its current luminosity in 2 to 3 gigayears. For 10 points each:
[10e] Name this planet whose northern pole is surrounded by a hexagonal cloud pattern. This planet has a “fuzzy core” as implied by seismic measurements from the Cassini probe.
ANSWER: Saturn (The “fuzzy core” was discovered by .)
[10h] The latent heat released by this phenomenon is hypothesized to account for Saturn’s high luminosity. This phenomenon occurs at high temperatures and pressures when metallic hydrogen and another liquid experience phase separation.
ANSWER: helium rain [prompt on rain; prompt on precipitation]
[10m] An internal source of luminosity explains why Saturn’s cooling has taken longer than a timescale named for these two scientists, whose formula was derived using the virial theorem and which is about 30 megayears for the Sun.
ANSWER: Lord Kelvin AND Hermann von Helmholtz [accept William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin in place of “Kelvin”; accept Kelvin-Helmholtz timescale]
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