Conceptual diagram of galaxies and planets.
A new study proposes that in the case of the solar system, Earth, Venus and Mars were built from dust-based modules containing ice crystals and elemental carbon, which means it is possible that the same is true for other star systems in the Milky Way, so water-rich planets may be a common occurrence.
Many scientists believe that the water resources on Earth were brought in by a water-carrying asteroid that hit it sometime after its birth. So among the various theories and approaches to the search for extraterrestrial civilizations, it is interesting to note that most scientists also cite the chances of a planet being hit by a water-carrying asteroid as one of the basic conditions for the birth of an extraterrestrial civilization – the presence of water.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have recently come up with a completely new idea: planets are born with water at the beginning, and lose it later in their development when certain conditions change. For example, Venus’ water was taken away by the solar wind; Mars’ water may have been locked up in minerals or dispersed into space because Mars lost its magnetic field.
So what should be considered, they suggest, is how likely a planet is to retain water, which usually “depends on the distance of the planet from its host star.
The researchers designed a computer model to calculate the process of planets coming together from the smallest base modules to grow larger and larger to give birth to planets. What scientists know is that all young stars in our galaxy are surrounded by millimeter-sized dust particles containing ice crystals and carbon. The study builds on this by hypothesizing that the Earth was also formed from a combination of these dust particles 4.5 billion years ago.
Their model shows that the Earth first started by capturing small boulders rich in ice crystals and carbon and assembled them into small spheres with only about 1% of their current mass. It then grew faster and faster, reaching its current mass after about 5 million years. During this process, the temperature of the surface rose rapidly, causing the ice crystals inside the small stones to evaporate to the surface, and although the Earth is fortunate to have 70% of its surface covered by water, it is now seen that “only 0.1% of the planet has water”.
All the planets in the galaxy are probably built from the same basic building blocks, which means that in other star systems in the galaxy, given the right temperature conditions, there is a high probability that planets with the same water and carbon content as Earth will appear,” said Anders Johansen, who led the study. — also have the potential to harbor life.”
Co-investigator Martin Bizzarro believes that these planets are likely to have intelligent life on them as well. “Our models show that if all the planets had the same water content as Earth, then they would not only have the same water and oceans as Earth, but also the same number of land plates. If that’s the case, the chances of there being life on them are high.”
The study was published Feb. 17 in the journal Science Advances.
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