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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Venus has an 'electric wind' strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere [sciencedaily.com], which may have played a significant role in stripping the planet of its oceans, according to a new study by NASA and UCL researchers.

"It's amazing and shocking," said Glyn Collinson, previously at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory and now a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "We never dreamt an electric wind could be so powerful that it can suck oxygen right out of an atmosphere into space. This is something that definitely has to be on the checklist when we go looking for habitable planets around other stars."

The study, published today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, discovered that Venus' electric field is so strong that it can accelerate the heavy electrically charged component of water -- oxygen -- to speeds fast enough to escape the planet's gravity.

Yes, but where does the liberated atmosphere then go? Is it swept up by the Earth? Was Mars's atmosphere picked up by Jupiter, such that at some depth water forms where life can thrive? Inquiring minds want to know!

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