Earth is a great billet for life to hold out and thrive . For starters , it has fluid piss on its surface , it ’s just the good distance from the Sun , has a protective atmospheric state satisfy with gases , and it ’s equip with a magnetic field to screen us from danger like solar flares .
for certain , some might say , it must be an implausibly rare occurrence to have such an ideal circumstance for life as we know it , even within the limitless bounds of the universe . However , this might not be the case .
A new piece of research suggest that it ’s probably other satellite are out there with full condition for life to flourish than those on Earth . As such , they could even have a great smorgasbord of lifetime than exists on Earth .
Presenting their work in a Keynote Lecture at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Congress in Barcelona , Dr Stephanie Olson of the University of Chicago explains how their team sit likely condition on unlike types of exoplanets using NASA - developed computing machine package to feign the habitat that could theoretically exist on exoplanets . The work primarily focused on oceans sinceliquid weewee is essentialfor the variety of frail chemistry that makes life possible ( at least , based on our own major planet ’s lifeforms ) .
" biography in Earth ’s ocean depends on upwelling ( upward flow ) which return nutrient from the dark deepness of the ocean to the sunlit dowery of the ocean where photosynthetic lifespan lives , " Dr Olsonsaid during their lectureat theGoldschmidt Geochemistry Congress . “ More upwelling means more nutritive resupply , which means more biological action . These are the conditions we need to look for on exoplanets . "
scientist havepreviously hintedat the possibility that some exoplanets might have stupendous continents and vast ocean , but we do n’t yet have the technology to gather lineal grounds of this . While that dream is still out of reach , for now this new research could avail astronomers ascertain what variety of exoplanets to look for .
" We have used an ocean circulation model to key which planet will have the most effective upwelling and thus proffer in particular hospitable oceans , ” Olson continued . “ We found that higher atmospheric density , dull revolution rate , and the presence of continent all yield higher upwelling rates . A further deduction is that Earth might not be optimally habitable – and life elsewhere may love a planet that is even more hospitable than our own . ”
Of course , this is all theoretic so far , but hey – I need to think .
