Planets with liquid water are 100 times more numerous than previously thought
Planets with liquid water are 100 times more numerous than previously thought 1-1778
Finding liquid water seems to be a prerequisite for any search for extraterrestrial life. So when researchers announce that there could be a hundred times more planets harboring liquid water than they previously thought...
The presence of liquid water is essential for life. And according to researchers' estimates, about one percent rocky planetstarscould present, in ourUniverse, surface liquid water resources . "Surface" ? A precision that does not seem like much, but which according to new work carried out at Rutgers University (United States), could make all the difference.
Planets with liquid water are 100 times more numerous than previously thought 1-1779
The results were presented at the Goldschmidt conference currently being held in Lyon. The most important international conference on the subject of geochemistry. And they argue that there could ultimately be water - and therefore potentially life - on no less than a hundred times moreexoplanetssimilar to our Earth. If groundwater is taken into account .
ground water
The researchers studied the case of telluric planets - rocky planets, like our Earth - inorbitaround M-type dwarf stars. Most common in our Milky Way. They modeled the possibility of generating and maintaining liquid water on such planets. And they discovered that a high percentage of these exoplanets could maintain liquid water under their surface thanks to theradioactivityfrom their heart. They also suspect that this is happening on the south pole side of Mars. On Earth, this is what happens inArcticand inAntarcticwhere, despite low temperatures, researchers have discovered the existence of vast underground lakes.

Another possibility of maintaining liquid water under the surface of an exoplanet, the one that will be explored by the missionEuropa Clipperas early as 2030 - if all goes as planned. That which causes the interior of a planet - in this case, the interior of Europa, the moon of Jupiter - to be constantly agitated by thegravityexerted by a planet - or a massive body. So many additional chances for life to see the light of day...



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