A duo of Chicago - based astronomers have some good news for you alien - hunters out there . Despite premature assumptions , geophysics say us that large Earth - similar exoplanets ( a.k.a . ace - Earths ) likely have both oceans and exposed continent . That means more Earth - like climates , too .
Northwestern ’s Nicolas B. Cowan and University of Chicago ’s Dorian Abbotjust presented a new theoretical model for super - Earths , and their argument make good sense . It also bats down the current laying claim thatsuper - Earth are all water system worlds . “ Super - Earth are expected to have deep oceans that will overflow their basins and inundate the entire surface , but we show this logic to be flawed , ” read Cowan . “ Terrestrial planets have significant sum of water in their interior . Super - Earths are potential to have shallow oceans to go along with their shallow ocean basins . ”
Water World Found Just Around the Corner
The interior water he ’s talking about is water that ’s stack away in the planet ’s mantle . The force of gravitation and ocean storey pressure would create a deep water rhythm that pumps weewee into the mantle , keeping it from bubble over on the rough surface regardless of how much water is on the major planet . This bears big implications for the major planet ’s clime . “ By making superintendent - Earths 80 times more likely to have exposed continents , ” Abbot said , “ we ’ve dramatically improved their odds of having Earth - corresponding climate . ”
In other words , those illusion drawings of extraneous satellite with funny - influence Continent and big blue oceans probably are n’t fantasy at all .
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