(June 3, 2014 at 1:43 pm)Chuck Wrote: I believe the current consensus is all the gas giants in our solar sytem have solid cores of heavy elements. The core of Jupiter, if stripped bare of the overlying hydrogen and helium mantle, would be very similar in mass, but somewhat smaller in size and higher in density, compare to this newly discovered "mega"earth.
IIRC, the exact composition of Jupiter's core is subject to debate. It's core mass is suggestive of heavy elements - though I would not expect it to be "solid" due to pressure and heat. However, there appears to be some controversy about the presence of significant portions of heavy elements
