Liquid Water on Rocky Planets Could be 100 Times More Likely - by briankoberlein
The icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn are another story. They were far enough from the Sun that they retained the water of their formation. They quickly formed a thick layer of ice to prevent water from evaporating into space. But these moons are small worlds and would have very quickly frozen solid were it not for the tidal forces exerted by their gas giant.
Since cold gas planets are likely to have icy moons, the general thought we would be far more likely to find life on a Europa-like world than an Earth-like one. But this new study begs to differ. It argues that liquid water is much more likely to be found on super-Earths.Super-Earths span a mass range from a couple of Earth masses to Neptune mass. On the large end, they are likely to be gassy worlds with thick atmospheres. On the small end, they are likely to be more Earth-like.
The reason has to do with the various freezing and melting points of ice. The kind of ice we have on Earth melts at around 0 °C. But this is only true at around Earth’s atmospheric pressure. At higher pressures, there are several varieties of ice with differing melting points. Although it’s a bit complicated, generally at higher pressures ice can have a much higher melting point. So even if a super-Earth is geologically active, it might not be warm enough to melt ice.
Based on what we know about exoplanets, super-Earth oceans could be 100x more common than those of Earth-like worlds or icy moons. And that means life has even more possible homes than we thought.
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