Jena 2013 – scientific programme
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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 7: Planeten-II
EP 7.1: Talk
Thursday, February 28, 2013, 11:15–11:30, HS 9
Tthe cooling History of Saturn Considering H-He demixing — •Robert Püstow1, Nadine Nettelmann2, Winfried Lorenzen3, and Ronald Redmer4 — 1University of Rostock — 2University of Rostock — 3University of Rostock — 4University of Rostock
The intrinsic excess luminosity in Saturn has been proposed to be helium rain for a long time. If we assume that Saturn evolved completely homogeneously its resulting cooling time is 2.2 billion years only. Compared to the age of the solar system of 4.56 billion years this is much too short because all planets are believed to have formed at the same time out of a protoplanetary disk. Therefore we present an inhomogeneous evolution model by considering the demixing of hydrogen and helium inside Saturn during its cooling history. This demixing effect leads to formation of helium droplets that fall into the planet*s deeper interior and release gravitational energy. As a result we obtain a different energy budget and therefore a delayed cooling. Consequently we are able to prolong the cooling time of Saturn by considering this additional energy source inside the planet.