How do we know that Neptune is made up of water, methane, and ammonia – above a small, rocky core…or that Saturn’s surface gravity is 10.44 m/s…or high wind speeds on Uranus?
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Lots of fancy scientific methods — the primary one being **spectroscopy.** This means that **we analyze the light in the planet’s atmosphere.**
Every element has a unique atomic structure, and thus reflects/absorbs light differently. Scientists can use these light readings and a bunch of math to determine the makeup of the planet.
As for the cores of planets, we infer based on what we learn about the atmosphere plus things like the planet’s mass, seismic activity — anything we can determine from flybys and telescopes.
Basically: **scientists know a LOT about various materials that could, theoretically, make up a planet.** They know about how those materials react to light, and how much they weigh, and how they interact with things like seismic activity.
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