Solitary planets’ moons can harbor water too

This increases the chance of finding life elsewhere.

Water is essential to life as we know it. It made it possible to develop it on Earth and is indispensable for the survival of all living systems on Earth. This also explains why scientists are constantly looking for evidence of water on other celestial bodies in the universe. We may now be able to do this research thanks to New study Slightly expand.

Water in our solar system نظام
In our search for extraterrestrial life, astronomers have mainly focused on planets in the so-called habitable zone. Because the planets within this region can harbor water. To date, however, the existence of liquid water on planets other than Earth has not been directly proven. In addition, orbs outside the habitable zone can also contain water. If we look at our solar system, we see that many of the moons in the outer regions are a good competitor. Enceladus, Europa, and six or so other moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune may harbor subterranean oceans.

lonely planets
This suggests that we may need to broaden our horizons. And that’s exactly what the researchers did in a new study. They ignored the common planets and decided to target the so-called FFPs. These are lonely wandering planets that do not orbit a major star. Next, the team used mathematical models to simulate the moon’s atmosphere that would orbit such a lonely planet.

Why FFPs?
You may be wondering why researchers have studied the moons of these exotic planets. FFP is particularly interesting because it is likely to occur in large numbers. Previous estimates have shown that our galaxy is home to at least as many planets as Jupiter as there are stars. To picture you, there are over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way alone.

Using a computer model, the researchers were able to simulate the atmospheric thermal properties of an Earth-sized exomoon orbiting an FFP that could rival Jupiter. In such a star-free system, it would likely be dark and cold. This is because there is no central star that can serve as a reliable source of energy to start chemical reactions. But this does not mean that water cannot be found here.

Water
We know that the moons of the cold gas giants are heated above freezing by tidal forces. This may also be the case with the outer moons around individual planets. Then, if more than 90 percent of the atmosphere of such an outdoor type contains carbon dioxide, much of the heat generated can be retained thanks to the resulting global warming effect. These energy sources can create liquid water.

This means that the moons of planets that do not have a star of origin may have an atmosphere in which liquid water can hide. In such systems there can be enough water to support life. The results indicate that while there is approximately 10,000 times less water on such a moon than the total volume of the oceans on our planet, the amount of water in the atmosphere may be a hundred times higher than the amount of water in our atmosphere. This is interesting. Because this will be enough for life to develop and flourish…