Lab mimicry opens a window to the deep interiors of stars and planets

The matter that makes up distant planets and even-more-distant stars exists under extreme pressure and temperature conditions. This matter includes members of a family of seven elements called the noble gases, some of which--such as helium and neon--are household names. New work from a team of scientists led by Carnegie's Alexander Goncharov used laboratory techniques to mimic stellar and planetary conditions, and observe how noble gases behave under these conditions, in order to better understa...