Planets Get Wet: Experiments Reveal Water Creation in Planet Formation Process

Scientists at the Carnegie Institution for Science have made a groundbreaking discovery that could change our understanding of how planets acquire water. The research, led by Francesca Miozzi and Anat Shahar, reveals that sub-Neptunes, a type of exoplanet, can have rocky interiors with thick hydrogen-dominated atmospheres and be rich in liquid water due to interactions between magma oceans and primitive atmospheres. This finding has significant implications for the search for distant worlds capable of hosting life.

Key Takeaways:

• The Carnegie Institution for Science's research team, led by Francesca Miozzi and Anat Shahar, has conducted experiments to study the formation of water on planets.
• The team's research is part of the AEThER (Atmospheric Empirical, Theoretical, and Experimental Research) project, which aims to understand the characteristics that enable rocky planets to develop favorable conditions for hosting life.
• The experiments demonstrated that interactions between atmospheric hydrogen and iron-bearing magma oceans during planet formation can produce significant quantities of water.
• The team created a controlled environment that mimics the conditions on young planets, compressing samples to 600,000 times atmospheric pressure and heating them to over 4,000 degrees Celsius.
• The results showed that a copious amount of hydrogen is dissolved into the melt and significant quantities of water are created by iron-oxide reduction by molecular hydrogen.
• This discovery has significant implications for our understanding of planetary habitability and the search for distant worlds capable of hosting life.
• The research team's work is focused on linking observations of planetary atmospheres to the evolution and dynamics of their rocky bodies.

Statistics:

• Over 6,000 exoplanets have been discovered in the Milky Way, with sub-Neptunes being the most common type of exoplanet.
• The researchers' experiments were able to comprehend samples up to nearly 600,000 times atmospheric pressure (60 gigapascals) and heated them to over 4,000 degrees Celsius (7,200 degrees Fahrenheit).
• The team's findings suggest that large amounts of hydrogen can be stored in the magma ocean while water formation is occurring.

Sources:

• Carnegie Institution for Science, "How do planets get wet? Experiments show water creation during planet formation process"
• Nature, "Experimental evidence of water creation in planetary formation"
• AEThER (Atmospheric Empirical, Theoretical, and Experimental Research) project website, "About the AEThER project"