A new study suggests that Mars has dried up due to its small size.
Curiosity a. Thanks for the similar comments to robotic explorers determination Scientists know that in ancient times liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars: the Red Planet hosted lakes, rivers, streams, and perhaps even a vast ocean that covered most of the northern hemisphere.
But this surface water was lost in space about 3.5 billion years ago With most of the atmosphere of Mars. Scientists believe that this dramatic climate change occurred when the Red Planet lost its global magnetic field, which served to shield Martian air from blasting charged particles from the Sun.
Related: The discovery of water on the surface of Mars (photo)
However, according to a new study, this supposed cause was supported by an underlying factor: Mars Surface waters are too small to stay away.
“The fate of Mars has been decided from the beginning,” said study co-author Kun Wang, assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Petersburg. Louis. Came in a statement. “A rocky planet size requirement is likely to contain enough water to allow habitat and plate tectonics.” Scientists believe that this threshold is higher than that found on Mars.
A study team led by Zhen Tian, a graduate student in Wang’s lab, examined 20 Mars meteorite, who decided to represent the mass composition of the red planet. Scientists have measured a number of different potassium isotopes in these extraterrestrial rocks, which range in age from 200 million years to four billion years. (Isotopes are versions of elements that have different numbers of neutrons in the nuclei of an atom.)
Tian and his colleagues used potassium, known by its chemical symbol, as an indicator of the “most volatile” elements and compounds - substances such as water that enter the gas phase at relatively low temperatures. They found that Mars lost much more volatility than Earth, which has a mass nine times the mass of the Red Planet. However, Mars maintained its oscillations better than Earth’s moon and the width of the asteroid was 329 miles (530 kilometers). vistaIt is much smaller and drier than the Red Planet.
“Why there are so much less volatile elements and their compounds on individual planets than on undifferentiated primordial meteorites is a long-standing question,” said Katharina Luders, professor of Earth research and planetary sciences at the University of Washington. . The same statement. (The term “differentiated” refers to a cosmic body whose interior has been divided into different layers, such as the crust, mantle, and core.)
“Finding the correlation of K isotopic compositions with planetary gravity is a new finding with important quantitative implications in cases where individual planets have gained instability and are lost,” said Lauders.
NS New study”, published online today (September 20) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and previous work suggests that smaller sizes have a double shock to their ability to live. Bantam planets lose a lot of water during their formation, and their global magnetic fields pass through. relatively quickly, causing the atmosphere to thin.(In contrast, the Earth’s global magnetic field continues to strengthen, dynamo driven in the depths of our planet.)
Team members said the new work could have applications outside of our space arena.
“This study confirms that the planets have enough, but not too much water, to create a habitable surface,” said co-author Klaus Meijer of the Center for Space and Habitat at the University of Bern. This was stated in the same statement issued by Switzerland. “These findings will help astronomers find it habitable extrasolar planet in other solar energy systems.
This exclusion of responsibility for the “surface environment” is key to any discussion of habit. Scientists believe that modern Mars, for example, still supports aquifers that may be supportive of life. The moon is Jupiter Europe Enceladus on Saturn hosts vast oceans beneath its ice-covered surfaces that could support life.
Mike Wall is the authorAbroad(Great Grand Publishing House, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter Tweet embed. Follow us on Twitter Tweet embed or Facebook.
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