Scientists have discovered the source of water on Earth
One study suggests that meteorites may have given life to our planet
The scientists analyzed the chemical composition of 13 meteorites in the outer solar system and found that the hydrogen content exceeded expectations, which inferred that the water of the Earth may have been brought to Earth by meteorites from the outer solar system.
About 4.5 billion years ago, the gas and dust swirling around the sun formed the planet Earth.
In the beginning, there was no moisture on our planet.
At that time, the flowing water that made Earth unique among all the planets in the solar system had not yet formed. To this day, scientists aren't quite sure how Earth's first water came from.
One study attempted to solve this long-standing mystery by studying the composition of meteorites. The findings suggest that these rocky travelers may have carried water on their journey to Earth.
The study was published Thursday in the journal Science.
According to solar system models, Earth is supposed to be an arid planet, which means there is probably no life on Earth. But the emergence of oceans and life has led scientists to question the origin of water on Earth.
Previous studies have shown that water came to Earth through asteroids and meteorites hitting earth in its early history. But some other theories suggest that water has always been on Earth, only previously hidden in the rocks that formed the planet.
The team behind the study looked at samples of pyroxene chondrite meteorites. This is a rare meteorite that is said to have formed from the nebula that gave birth to the solar system.
A sample of the Sahara meteorite, an example of a chlorpyroxene chondrite meteorite, is housed in the Natural History Museum in Paris
These space rocks were exposed to the heat and radiation of the young sun during their formation, so scientists speculated that they were too dry to transport moisture to Earth. In contrast, astronomers believe that water came to Earth after its formation through carbonaceous chondrite meteorites from outside the solar system.
In an effort to solve the problem, the scholars behind the new study examined the hydrogen content of 13 diecyphetite chondrite meteorite samples. Their analysis revealed that these meteorites carried much more hydrogen than previously thought.
Building on this finding, the researchers of the study believe that these ancient meteorites could bring enough hydrogen to the primordial Earth that continues to grow, and that the amount of hydrogen is at least 3 times the amount of water in the earth's existing oceans.
Water on Earth may come from the space rocks that formed Earth.
Abstract: The source of water on Earth is unknown. Pyroxene chondrite meteorites have an isotopic composition similar to that of land rocks and therefore may represent the material that formed the Earth. Because pyroxene chondrite meteorites form in the interior of the solar system, they are considered water-free.
As a result, water on Earth is often attributed to the late addition of a small fraction of hydrates, such as carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which come from the outside of the solar system, which is more waterted. We showed that pyroxene chondrite meteorites contain enough hydrogen to deliver at least three times as much hydrogen to Earth as there is in the oceans. The isotopic composition of hydrogen and nitrogen in pyroxene chondrite meteorites coincides with the mantle, so asteroids of the pyroxene chondrite meteorites may be responsible for the formation of the Earth's crust and mantle by these volatile elements
Related knowledge
An extrasolar planet, or simply an exoplanet, is a planet located outside the solar system. As of October 20, 2021, a total of 4,531 exoplanets have been confirmed, of which about three-quarters were discovered through transits. These planets belong to 3364 planetary systems, of which 778 are multi-planetary. The Kepler mission has detected 18,000 planetary candidates, including 262 candidates located in potential habitable zones.
In the Milky Way, there are an estimated 100 billion to 400 billion stars (if each star has at least one planet, it would result in 100 billion to 400 billion planets)[2][3][4][9], there are not only planets around the star, but also free-moving planetary mass objects,[10] and the closest known exoplanet is Proxima B.
Almost all of the exoplanets that have been discovered are within our own galaxy, but there are a small number of extragalactic planets that may be detectable. In a January 2013 report by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, it was estimated that there were "at least 17 billion" Earth-scale exoplanets in the Milky Way.
BY: inverse
FY: Qing Huan
If there is any infringement of the relevant content, please contact the author to delete it after the work is published
Please also obtain authorization to reprint, and pay attention to maintaining completeness and indicating source