Scientists have created a new, unusual form of ice under extreme laboratory conditions. They subjected water samples to pressures up to 2.3 million atmospheres and temperatures reaching 2,630 kelvins. These conditions mimic those found within ice giant planets. The researchers squeezed water between diamond tips to achieve immense pressures and used lasers for heating. They then analyzed the ice's crystal structure with synchrotron X-rays. This process revealed hexagonal close-packed, or hcp, ice, a form previously predicted but not definitively observed. Further heating showed signs of superionic behavior in the hcp ice. This suggests it transitioned to a superionic state around 1,700 kelvins. Superionic ice is theorized to exist in the cores of planets like Uranus and Neptune. Its unique properties are believed to contribute to these planets' peculiar magnetic fields.