Can you think of any method which would reliably tell us about the composition of the gas giants' cores?

Question

I was wondering if there is any direct method which may be tried one day in the future. Or is it more likely that this information will be hidden from us forever?

Answer 1

Spectrography.

by analyzing the energy radiated,you can determine its basic composition

Answer 2

A fishing pole with an initially evacuated collection bucket at the end of the line. The fishing pole would be at orbital height on a Jove-stationary space elevator. You could dip stuff up from the lower layers, until you reached the depth at which the carbon nanotube broke or the bucket melted. Just dunk the bucket, open and shut it, then reel it back up.

Answer 3

Possibly a network of satellites monitoring the magnetic field.

Then create an EMP or two in low orbit and read the results?

Might not each the core, but deep conditions might be indicated.

Answer 4

For the time being, we just have to wait for nature to send a long a probe to help us further study the interior of Jupiter.  When the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter, it lifted material from deep within the cloud cover of Jupiter so it could be analyzed.  Scientists also studied the seismic waves from the impact to get more clues about the composition of Jupiter's interior.  (This is the same thing we do here on Earth; we use seismic activity during earthquakes to determine the properties of Earth's core.)

As for sending a probe deep into Jupiter, this is something far beyond our current technology.  The pressures and temperatures there would both pulverize and melt all known materials.  We could conceivably create our own intentional seismic activity on Jupiter using large atomic explosions, and then study the transmission of the shockwaves to get more information about Jupiter's core.  

Good question, by the way!  It really made me think.  

Answer 5

send a probe with a ultra powerful antenna, thats far in the future