Stunned aquatic planet live, 'shared' with Earth

The 53 objects selected for the survey are 53 rocky planets of the same type as the Earth, belonging to other "Solar Systems" that reside in the Milky Way with us.

A team of American astronomers from NASA's Goddard Space Aerospace Center, Vietnamese Planetary Science and the University of Idaho calculated the rate of heating within the planets and looked for evidence of volcanic activity. Happily, they all have the ability to own active volcanoes - part of what is called "plate tectonics".

Graphic image depicting a life-changing aquarium planet - (photo: SCI-NEWS)

More surprisingly, 26% of these exoplanets are ocean worlds, in the form of an "aquarium planet" resembling icy moons in the Solar System.

In these "aquatic planets" , the ocean may not be visible on the surface like Earth. But under the outer ice is a living water world and may have conditions that give rise to life like Saturn's moon Enceladus or Jupiter's Europa, two of the targets that NASA has looked after for years. recently in search of life.

According to Dr. Lynnae Quick from Goddard Aerospace Center, if Europa and Enceladus are habitable, so will their versions in other star systems. The erupting steam from the ice craters of these planets into space suggests that the ocean below is an ocean with the energy that drives the water - two key requirements for generating marine life, like the early Earth.

Plate tectonic activities have also been proved to be one of the factors that help life to be generated and maintained on Earth. Not excluded in some objects, such as Jupiter's moon Io, volcanic activity was so intense it turned it into "hell" . But volcanic activity and other plate-tectonic processes such as those on Earth will maintain the release of gas to stabilize the atmosphere, while keeping the planet moist.

Currently, scientists are continuing to search for " biological signatures" on the above planets.

The research has just been published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.