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Water-worlds are common: Exoplanets may contain vast amounts of water
Scientists have shown that water is likely to be a major component of those exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) which are between two to four times the size of Earth. It will have implications for the search of life in our Galaxy. The work is presented at the Goldschmidt conference in Boston.
[...] [A] new evaluation of data from the exoplanet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope and the Gaia mission indicates that many of the known planets may contain as much as 50% water. This is much more than the Earth's 0.02% (by weight) water content. [...] Scientists have found that many of the 4000 confirmed or candidate exoplanets discovered so far fall into two size categories: those with the planetary radius averaging around 1.5 that of the Earth, and those averaging around 2.5 times the radius of the Earth.
[...] "We have looked at how mass relates to radius, and developed a model which might explain the relationship," said [lead researcher] Li Zeng. The model indicates that those exoplanets which have a radius of around x1.5 Earth radius tend to be rocky planets (of typically x5 the mass of the Earth), while those with a radius of x2.5 Earth radius (with a mass around x10 that of the Earth) are probably water worlds."
"This is water, but not as commonly found here on Earth," said Li Zeng. "Their surface temperature is expected to be in the 200 to 500 degree Celsius range. Their surface may be shrouded in a water-vapor-dominated atmosphere, with a liquid water layer underneath. Moving deeper, one would expect to find this water transforms into high-pressure ices before we reaching the solid rocky core. The beauty of the model is that it explains just how composition relates to the known facts about these planets." Li Zeng continued, "Our data indicate that about 35% of all known exoplanets which are bigger than Earth should be water-rich. These water worlds likely formed in similar ways to the giant planet cores (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) which we find in our own solar system. The newly-launched TESS mission will find many more of them, with the help of ground-based spectroscopic follow-up. The next generation space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, will hopefully characterize the atmosphere of some of them. This is an exciting time for those interested in these remote worlds."
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday August 20 2018, @03:29PM (1 child)
Forget about high technology to get out of the ocean and fly to the stars...how do you cook a steak under the sea?
My understanding is that cooking was a pretty big deal in the development of our species -- it dramatically reduced the energy required for digestion, which freed that energy to be used by our brains. In addition to reduction in disease and such. Perhaps it's possible to develop technological societies without that step, but we certainly don't have any examples of that yet. And it also seems at least plausible that such a sudden change could be necessary in order to develop brains that have the time and energy to contemplate something other than basic survival. One creature's brains had to evolve dramatically faster than others' in order to escape the arms race that is evolution.
One thing that water is really good at is distributing energy. One thing that intelligent life and technology in particular really depends on is concentrations and gradients of energy. Can that contradiction be overcome? Maybe. Does it make things harder? Almost certainly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @07:10AM
It involves the intelligent use of enzymes, as opposed to crude temperature modulation. Think of it as the "gazpacho of the sea".