Liquid oceans in outer solar system may last longer: Study

In a boost to finding alien life, NASA scientists have discovered that oceans beneath the icy surface of distant worlds at the edge of our solar system may sustain liquid water for far longer than previously believed. This greatly expands the number of locations where extraterrestrial life might be found, since liquid water is necessary to support known forms of life and astronomers estimate there are dozens of these worlds, researchers said.

Heat generated by the gravitational pull of moons formed from massive collisions could extend the lifetimes of liquid water oceans beneath the surface of large icy worlds in our outer solar system. “These objects need to be considered as potential reservoirs of water and life,” said Prabal Saxena of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the US. “If our study is correct, we now may have more places in our solar system that possess some of the critical elements for extraterrestrial life,” said Saxena, lead author of the research published in the journal Icarus.

These frigid worlds are found beyond the orbit of Neptune and include Pluto and its moons. They are known as Trans- Neptunian Objects (TNOs) and are far too cold to have liquid water on their surfaces, …read more