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The Earth may not be the perfect planet for life August 27, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Earth may not be the best planet for life, with exoplanets orbiting distant stars that can accommodate a more diverse life, US researchers have concluded.
The researchers used NASA's climate model to explore the most likely exoplanets outside of our solar system.
The team discovered that planets with a denser atmosphere and lower rotational rates could hold water efficiently, creating a host of strange lives.
The results can help guide the future of the search for life in other worlds.
Geochemist Stephanie Olson and her colleagues at the University of Chicago have used programs developed by NASA to model the potential conditions of different types of exoplanets – particularly climates and potential ocean habitats.
"The quest for life in the NASA universe is focused on the so-called planets of the habitable zone, worlds endowed with the potential of oceans of liquid water," Olson said. But not all oceans are so hospitable: some oceans will be better places to live than others, because of their global circulation patterns. "
The researchers were able to use their models to identify the types of planets that can develop and maintain a variety of lives.
"We used an ocean circulation model to determine which planets would have the most efficient vapors, and thus provide particularly hospitable oceans," said Olson.
Climbing in the Earth's oceans restores the nutrients from dark depths to areas exposed to more sunlight in the seas. Thus, more exposure to light means the availability of essential nutrients, increasing the biological activity.
"These are the conditions we need to look for exoplanets," said Olson.
In this sense, the researchers concluded that the Earth may not have been the perfect planet for life and that there were more hospitable worlds that could be elsewhere in the universe.
For the moment, no powerful telescope has been developed to identify appropriate exoplanets and test researchers' conclusions – but Olson hopes this will change soon.
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