Without radioactive elements ejected during the supernova explosion 4.6 billion years ago, our planet could be a hostile water world covered with a global ice shield.
The results of our simulation show that there are two fundamentally different types of planetary systems: those that are similar to ours, that is, contain planets with a small amount of water, and systems that are mostly inhabited by water worlds.
-Tim Lichtenberg, lead author Research from the National Center for Competence in Planet Research (Switzerland)
All stony planets have a core, a mantle and a crust. If during the formation and formation of such a world will acquire significantly more water than the Earth, then its surface will be completely covered by a deep global ocean, at the bottom of which there will be an impenetrable layer of ice. This will prevent the occurrence of geochemical processes, such as the carbon cycle, which stabilizes the climate and creates favorable conditions for our usual life. Despite the fact that water covers more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, astronomical standards make the inner planets of the solar system very dry.
In their work, the researchers tried to identify the processes that lead to the emergence of two different types of planetary systems, simulating their formation from building blocks, the so-called planetesimals – rocky bodies tens of kilometers in size, formed in the disk of dust and gas around a young star. At the same time, scientists considered the role played by the potential presence of a massive luminary near the emerging worlds, since during the explosion it would have thrown a large number of radioactive elements into space.
When the planetesimals heat up from the inside, some of their water ice evaporates and disappears into space before they can deliver it to the planet. Such internal heating of the building blocks of the Earth could occur shortly after the birth of the Solar System, as indicated by the analysis of meteorites.
At the moment when the proto-Sun was formed, a supernova flared up near it. Radioactive elements, including aluminum-26, were ejected by a dying massive star and hit the young solar system, making it more dry. However, radioactive heating alone is probably not enough, and perhaps the presence of Jupiter also played an important role in protecting the inner regions of the solar system from most ice bodies.
-Michael Meyer, a co-author of research from the University of Michigan (USA)
Researchers note that new-generation space telescopes, intended for hunting for extrasolar worlds, will be able to identify potential differences in the compositions of the planets and clarify the predicted effects of the dehydration mechanism. This will bring humanity closer to understanding whether our native land is unique or whether there are countless worlds like ours.
The death of a star helped Earth become habitable
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