’17 Potentially Habitable Planets’… NASA reveals a new surprise
NASA has unveiled exoplanets that may contain liquid oceans and thus be suitable for life.
The scientific journal “Live Science” reported that the U.S. space agency revealed in a new analysis, published in the Astrophysical Journal, that 17 newly discovered exoplanets could have oceans beneath the planet’s surface, buried under thick layers of ice.
Water could exist in its liquid form on the planet’s surface, as direct heat from its host star can prevent it from freezing.
However, it could also exist beneath the planet’s surface, as internal heat sources can maintain the flow of oceans beneath the surface, making these worlds promising places to search for biosignatures: chemical signs of life.
While the exact composition of these planets remains unclear, temperature estimates from previous studies indicate that they are much cooler than Earth and have lower density, despite being approximately the size of our planet.
Lindsay Kwok of NASA‘s Goddard Space Flight Center said, “Our analysis suggests that these seventeen planets may have surfaces covered in ice, but they receive enough internal heating to maintain internal oceans.”
In other words, while their host stars may not provide warm enough conditions to maintain water in its liquid form on their surfaces, these planets may exhibit processes that can generate heat beneath their surfaces.
Kwok added, “Thanks to the internal heating, all of the planets in our study could also have icy volcanic eruptions in the form of columns.”
Monitoring these planets may involve astronomers capturing the spectra of light emissions passing through their atmospheres.
The chemicals and particles emitted in the atmosphere as a result of icy volcanic activity could provide evidence of whether life might exist in the dark, cold depths of these worlds.
