this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2026
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xkcd #3322: Dragonfly

Title text:

I'm excited for Dragonfly, because on the list of places in the solar system that I desperately want more pictures from, 'Titan's surface' is right up there at the top with 'Jupiter's atmosphere.'

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3322/

explainxkcd for #3322

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[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 points 20 minutes ago

Yes, other elements/compounds have fallen into Jupiter over the aeons but even if it was just hydrogen, it is big enough that the pressure alone causes a transition between gas and liquid and farther down solid. There just isn't a set border where you can say that it is one phase on the one side and a different phase on the other. It does more of a slow transition where the gas gets thicker and thicker until at some point you can say it's definitely a liquid instead of a gas, which then gets thicker and thicker until it's not moving anymore.

Similar for Saturn.