Sun 'pours water' on Earth, creating oceans?

The sun, or specifically the solar wind, can be the source of seeds for the Earth's oceans, and the condition for all living things and ourselves to be born.

New research led by Professor Phil Bland, director of the Center for Space Science and Technology from Curtin University (Australia), confirms that a large part of Earth's water comes from the Sun.

Itokawa and the Sun in the Early Earth

According to Sci-News, the process of "dumping water" on Earth occurred when our planet was in its infancy, in the formation stage. The solar wind carries solar particles, mainly made of hydrogen ions, which are responsible for creating water on the surface of dust particles that cling to asteroids. The asteroids hit the Earth again, bringing water with them.

Using atomic probe tomography, Professor Bland and colleagues analyzed an olivine particle from the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa. Samples from this asteroid have been collected by JAXA's Hayabusa spacecraft (Japan) and brought back to Earth from 2021.

The results show that these space dust particles are so hydrated that they can extract up to 20 liters of water per cubic meter of rock.

As we all know, water on Earth is located mainly in the surface and mantle region, making up a very small part of the planet's composition. This water is thought to have come from ancient asteroids and comets, as there is ample evidence that the early Earth was subjected to meteor showers over a long period of time, sufficient to provide enough water for the entire planet. set of oceans, rivers and lakes today.

The study has just been published in Nature Astronomy.