"Earth-like" water has been spotted inside the "Christmas Comet"

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"A vast, earth-like water reservoir" was found inside the "Christmas Comet" as she flew over the Earth last year and could explain the origins of the oceans of our planet, according to NASA.

  • The measurements were taken by SOFIA, the 'observatory & # 39; flying & # 39; at high altitude
  • He found that some comets had the same "normal" and "heavy" water ratio as the Earth
  • Suggesting that comets delivered the first waters to Earth billions of years ago
  • Part of this water then formed the current seas and oceans

By Yuan Ren For Mailonline

Published on: 1:14 pm EDT, May 24, 2019 | Update: 1:14 pm EDT, May 24, 2019

The Christmas comet that flew over the Earth last December contained "a vast reservoir of water similar to the Earth" similar to that found in our oceans today.

NASA scientists say this confirms the theory that distant space rocks provided the first water to the Earth, which then formed the oceans and seas.

Water on Earth exists in two forms: ordinary water and a heavier version called HDO.

Hydrogen with an extra particle, a neutron, is known as the isotope and called deuterium and the ratio of normal water to deuterium varies.

The ratio on the Christmas comet is the same as on Earth, which indicates that they share the same origin.

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Comets colliding with Earth in the early days of our solar system may have provided our planet with the first water that formed its seas and oceans

Comets colliding with Earth in the early days of our solar system may have provided our planet with the first water that formed its seas and oceans

The stratospheric observatory in flight for NASA's infrared astronomy, known as SOFIA, is the largest telescope in the world and has taken measurements of the comet.

He collected data on comet 46P / Wirtanen, which had approached the surface of the Earth in December, and was nicknamed the Christmas comet.

"We have identified a vast, earth-like water reservoir in the far reaches of the solar system," said Darek Lis, lead author of the study, in a statement.

WHAT IS DEUTERIUM?

Deuterium is an isotope of water, which means that it contains the same amount of protons but an extra neutron compared to ordinary water.

It exists naturally but often, the water / deuterium ratio can reveal information.

Deuterium has a natural abundance in the Earth's oceans of about one atom on 6,420 of hydrogen.

The observations led scientists to believe that comets could have first provided water to the Earth because the ratio of two types of water molecules on the comet corresponds to that of the oceans of the earth.

Both forms of water exist on Earth, but in different relationships. Therefore, the fact that this relationship is similar in the ocean and in comets might suggest that comets provided water to the Earth.

Previously, this ratio was difficult to measure, up to more powerful machines such as SOFIA.

"Measuring this report is difficult," NASA said in a statement.

The oceans of the Earth contain both ordinary water and naturally occurring "heavy" water, where the hydrogen atom of each molecule of water contains an extra particle called neutron .

The oceans of the Earth contain both ordinary water and naturally occurring "heavy" water, where the hydrogen atom of each molecule of water contains an extra particle called neutron .

This heavier version of water naturally exists alongside ordinary water in the Earth's oceans, but in a much smaller proportion. The picture shows the Christmas comet seen from the Earth

This heavier version of water naturally exists alongside ordinary water in the Earth's oceans, but in a much smaller proportion. The picture shows the Christmas comet seen from the Earth

This heavier version of water naturally exists alongside ordinary water in the Earth's oceans, but in a much smaller proportion. The picture shows the Christmas comet taken by SOFIA

This heavier version of water naturally exists alongside ordinary water in the Earth's oceans, but in a much smaller proportion. The picture shows the Christmas comet taken by SOFIA

WHAT IS CHRISTMAS COMET?

The Christmas comet, or 46P / Wirtanen, the brightest comet of 2018, crossed the sky at a distance of 12 million kilometers from Earth on December 16th.

The bright comet has been captured from different angles by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The spacecraft instrument caught the glow of comet comets, a stream of gas clouds that the comet ejected during its passage through the solar system.

The close flyby allowed astronomers to study it in detail by combining the capabilities of NASA's telescope and X-rap observatory.

The team said at the time that we were looking into how the comet was made and how the gases it contains could be modified when exposed to sunlight and radiation.

The Christmas comet is not actually blue, it has been applied to high-resolution grayscale exposures during post-processing.

The inner part of a comet of a comet is not normally visible from the Earth.

"Earth and space telescopes can study this level of detail in comets only when they pass near the Earth, and comet touring missions, like Rosetta, are rare."

With the help of data from SOFIA, the scientists then studied a number of comets and found that a water ratio similar to that existing on Earth existed in others. comets, whatever their origin.

"This could imply that all comets could have a heavy to regular water ratio similar to that of the Earth's oceans, and that they could have provided much of the water to the Earth ", NASA scientists said.

Dominique Bockelée-Morvan, scientist at the Paris Observatory and the French National Center for Scientific Research and second author of the study, said: "It's the first time we could connect the ratio of heavy water to regular of all comets to one. factor & # 39.

Planets are formed from matter in orbit around a star, which looks like disks around a star.

Small debris from these debris can agglutinate and grow with time, leftovers of unused material in the formation remaining in our solar system, large existing structures such as the Kuiper belt or cloud. Oort.

Scientists have only been able to study this report in a dozen comets since the 1980s.

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