SPACE — Earth and the rocky planets in our solar system’s interior are the products of a multitude of tiny planetesimals that fused more than 4 billion years ago. Now, new analysis shows planetesimals have contained water from the start.
For your information, planetesimals are compacted pebbles of ancient cosmic dust. Meanwhile, planet formation begins with a disk of dust material (including planetesimals) and gas surrounding the newborn star. All the planets in the inner Solar System are rocky planets, namely Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Researchers have just tested meteorite samples that are thought to be as old as the planetesimals that formed Earth. In this way, they found traces of chemical reactions that are known to occur in the presence of water.
The sample no longer contained water, but they could still trace its whereabouts. Over time, if water encounters a number of other elements, the oxygen atoms of the water molecules will separate and combine with these elements.
Also Read: NASA’s Webb Telescope Confirms Earth Formation Process
Water and iron, for example, will produce iron oxide. This substance is what colors the surface of Mars its current rusty red color. However, iron oxide has also long been lost in meteorites. If the iron oxide fades, the iron content of the meteorite will also disappear.
So, scientists can test for the presence of ancient water by measuring the iron content of the meteorite. This is considered easier than testing it on other space rock elements.
Researchers hope to find as much iron as nickel and cobalt in meteorites. But instead, they found quite a lot of iron missing, which implied the presence of oxygen and by extension, water.
Also read: Newly discovered water on Mars can cover the entire surface of the planet
In short, they concluded that the primordial materials that formed the inner solar system likely included water. “The difference between what we measured in inner solar system meteorites and what we estimated implied oxygen activity was about 10,000 times higher,” said Paul Asimow, a geologist and geochemist at the California Institute of Technology.
If the hydrogen and oxygen in the water were among the ancient elements that made up the planet, then it is a good sign that other elements could have also been present from the beginning of formation. These other elements include carbon and nitrogen which are very important for creating life like on Earth.
The results of the scientists’ research have been described in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy on January 9, 2024. Also Read: The Formation of the Universe 1: The Big Bang and the Dark Ages
Source: Space.com
2024-01-22 06:31:00
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