Liquid water is an important prerequisite for life to develop on a planet. As researchers report in a new study, liquid water could also exist for billions of years on planets that are very different from Earth. This calls our currently Earth-centered idea of potentially habitable planets into quest
, the potential for liquid water is therefore a critical component. To find it, researchers have traditionally looked for planets similar to our own. Yet, long-term liquid water does not necessarily have to occur under similar circumstances as on Earth.
consisting mostly of Hydrogen and Helium – a so-called primordial atmosphere,” Helled points out. Over the course of its evolution, however, Earth lost this primordial atmosphere.can collect much larger primordial atmospheres, which in some cases they can keep indefinitely. “Such massive primordial atmospheres can also induce a greenhouse effect – much like Earth’s atmosphere today.
“What we found is that in many cases, primordial atmospheres were lost due to intense radiation from stars, especially on planets that are close to their star. But in the cases where the atmospheres remain, the right conditions for liquid water can occur,” reports Marit Mol Lous, PhD student and lead-author of the study.
“Since the availability of liquid water is a likely prerequisite for life, and life probably took many millions of years to emerge on Earth, this could greatly expand the horizon for the search for alien lifeforms. Based on our results, it could even emerge on so-called free-floating planets, that do not orbit around a star,” Mordasini says.
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