On the back page of the newspaper today--far away from articles about whether the Vikings will really leave Minnesota, fears that Asian carp are in the Mississippi River and the latest political squabbles, was a fascinating story about new research shedding light on the source of Earth's water. Ever wonder how water got here when Earth was once too hot to hold water? I have to admit I never gave it a thought until I read the article.
European scientists say they've discovered a region at the outer reaches of a disk surrounding a star 175 light years away. The star and the disk which holds very cold water vapor, are in the early stages of forming planets, in much the same way Earth was formed more than 4 billion years ago. The scientists have concluded that H2O came to Earth via comets and asteroids that originated in similar cold but water-filled regions, which are assumed to have been present when our solar system was forming.
The lead astronomer says observations indicate enough water exists in the disk they've studied to fill thousands of Earth oceans. The logical extension of this is that water has also been delivered to some of the billions of exoplanets now known to exist beyond our solar system--meaning there are likely to be many "ocean worlds" throughout the glaaxies.
Whew! Awesome stuff to ponder next time you're watching waves crash. Wonder if those flippin' carp exist on another planet in a galaxy far, far away?
October 21, 2011
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