- 4595 -
WATER - in the early universe? -
The search for life elsewhere in the universe can be reduced to the
search for water. We haven't yet found lifeforms that detach this substance
from our conception of "life" itself, so we have no choice but to
accept the water trail as our north star in the quest to find worlds that
mirror our own.
-
----------------------------------------- 4595
- WATER - in
the early universe?
-
- A planet outside the solar system may have
a temperate water ocean about half the size of the Atlantic. Of all currently known temperate exoplanets,
“LHS 1140 b” could well be our best bet to one day indirectly confirm liquid
water on the surface of an alien world beyond our solar system.
-
- “LHS 1140 b”, the exoplanet orbits a red
dwarf star about a fifth the size of the sun and sits 48 light-years away from
Earth in the constellation Cetus which, as luck would have it, translates to
"the whale."
-
- “LHS 1140 b” lives in its star's habitable zone, known as
its "Goldilocks zone." As that nickname would suggest, this is the
area around a star where it's neither too hot nor too cold for a world to host
liquid water, but rather fits the standard by which the fairy tale character
Goldilocks lives.
-
- Scientists couldn't quite confirm whether
the exoplanet is a mini-Neptune — a planet less massive than our original
Neptune, but one that still has Neptunian characteristics — or a super Earth. A
super Earth is a world that's larger than Earth, but still either rocky or
water-rich.
-
- They also confirmed the world may have a
nitrogen-laced atmosphere like Earth does. While it is still only a tentative
result, the presence of a nitrogen-rich atmosphere would suggest the planet has
retained a substantial atmosphere, creating conditions that might support
liquid water.
-
- There are also a variety of other
habitable-zone exoplanets scientists are drawn to. The most obvious are
probably the seven worlds of the TRAPPIST-1 system, a planetary lineup that
looks almost disturbingly similar to our solar system's structure. Some of them are in the habitable zone like
Earth is.
-
- The star “LHS 1140” appears to be calmer
and less active making it significantly less challenging to disentangle LHS
1140 b's atmosphere. The JWST data
further suggests the exoplanet's mass might be made of between 10 percent and
20 percent liquid water. It paints a
fantastical picture of what the planet might look like in simple terms. It
could look like a snowball, essentially, that orbits its star while rotating in
such a way that one side always faces that star.
-
- It's like the moon's orbit around Earth; we
can't ever see the far side of the moon because the moon rotates at the same
rate it revolves around Earth. One side never faces us, and the other always
does.
-
- Similarly, this would mean that, if the
JWST's illustration of the LHS 1140 b scene is correct, the side of the planet
always facing its sun would be exposed to lots of heat. This would be the part
of the snowball that's "melted" into a liquid ocean.
-
- Current models indicate that if LHS 1140 b
has an Earth-like atmosphere, it would be a snowball planet with a bull's-eye
ocean about 2,485 miles in diameter.
The surface temperature of the ocean may very well even be a "comfortable" 68 degrees
Fahrenheit.
-
- Far more work must be done, especially with
the JWST, in observing the nuances of
“LHS 1140 b”.
-
November 2, 2024 WATER - in
the early universe? 4595
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Comments appreciated and Pass it on to
whomever is interested. ---
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback, corrections, request for
copies or Index of all reviews
--- to:
------
jamesdetrick@comcast.net
------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- --- Sunday, November 3,
2024
---------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment