List of extrasolar candidates for liquid water
Possible existence of liquid water beyond Earth / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Extraterrestrial liquid water in the Solar System is likely uncommon, although it has been hypothesized to exist in some of its moons, and to have formerly existed on Mars and Venus.[2][3] Extrasolar liquid water has not yet been confirmed to exist. The following list contains candidates that meet the following criteria:
- Confirmed object of Earth mass or greater[lower-alpha 1] orbiting within a circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ)
- May not be a star
- Has been studied for more than a year
- Confirmed surface with strong evidence for it being either solid or liquid
- Water vapour detected in its atmosphere
- Gravitational, radio or differentation models predict a wet stratum
This article needs to be updated. (January 2022) |
Most known extrasolar planetary systems appear to have very different compositions from the Solar System, though there is sampling bias arising from the detection methods.
The goal of current searches is to find Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of their planetary systems (also called the Goldilocks zone).[4] Planets with oceans could include Earth-sized moons of giant planets, though it remains speculative whether such 'moons' really exist. The Kepler telescope might be sensitive enough to detect them.[5] But there is evidence that rocky planets hosting water may be commonplace throughout the Milky Way.[6]
In June 2020, NASA scientists reported that it is likely that exoplanets with oceans may be common in the Milky Way galaxy, based on mathematical modeling studies.[7]