Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wet Asteroid’s Remains Found In Old Star That Could Have Hosted Habitable Planets

Wet Asteroid’s Remains Found In Old Star That Could Have Hosted Habitable Planets:
Artist's impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the strong gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61. Credit: Mark A. Garlick, space-art.co.uk, University of Warwick and University of Cambridge
Artist’s impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the strong gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61. Credit: Mark A. Garlick, space-art.co.uk, University of Warwick and University of Cambridge
Remains of a water-filled asteroid are circling a dying white dwarf star, right now, about 150 light-years from us. The new find is the first demonstration of water and a rocky surface in a spot beyond the solar system, researchers say.
The discovery is exciting to the astronomical team because, according to them, it’s likely that water on Earth came from asteroids, comets and other small bodies in the solar system. Finding a watery rocky body demonstrates that this theory has legs, they said. (There are, however, multiple explanations for water on Earth.)
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Read the rest of Wet Asteroid’s Remains Found In Old Star That Could Have Hosted Habitable Planets (416 words)

© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2013. |Permalink |No comment |
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