Earth was a dry and hot place: new theory explains how water got here and to other planets in the solar system

A group of scientists from the Paris Observatory has proposed a new theory about how water got to Earth and other planets in the solar system. This is a key question for understanding the origin of life in the Universe.

Although today the oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth's surface, researchers believe that the newly formed Earth was a dry and hot place, unable to retain water due to its proximity to the Sun. This means that water had to arrive later, from space, LBV writes.

According to scientists, the traditional theory states that water arrived via comets or icy asteroids that collided with the Earth during the first 100 million years of its history. However, this scenario depends on extremely random cosmic events, experts say.

The new study offers a different idea based on recent observations of asteroids and debris disks in distant star systems captured by the ALMA radio telescope.

According to scientists, when the solar system was young, asteroids formed in a cold, ice-covered region. As the original gas and dust disk surrounding the Sun dissipated, the space rocks began to heat up, slowly releasing their ice in the form of water vapor.

This vapor formed a disk around the Sun, consisting mainly of water, the researchers suggest. Over time, the gravitational and dynamic forces of the solar system forced this disk to expand, reaching the orbits of the inner planets, including the Earth.

Scientists are convinced that it was in this process that our planet captured part of this vapor, which subsequently condensed and contributed to the formation of the oceans.

The most interesting aspect of this theory is that it not only explains the origin of water on Earth but also on other planets in the solar system, scientists emphasize.

In addition, this scenario suggests that a similar process can be repeated in distant star systems, opening up new opportunities for identifying exoplanets with water and, potentially, life, scientists say.

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