At least one habitable planet arose in the early days of the solar system until it was attacked by Jupiter, once 10,000 times brighter than it is today.
A team of astronomers led by planetary scientist Carver Bierson from Arizona State University (USA) presented extraordinary findings on four “Moon of Galilee” of Jupiter.
These four special worlds – Me, Europe, Ganymede, Calisto – are considered as such “moon life” and is the target of many space agencies around the world, such as NASA and ESA, in their quest for extraterrestrial creatures.
The four “life moons” of Jupiter.
The four “life moons” of Jupiter – (Photo: NASA).
Currently, they still contain many potential elements for life. According to Dr. Bierson and his colleagues, they were even larger when they were born and could even have liquid water.
Based on known data on Jupiter and this group of giant moons (Ganymede is even larger than Mercury), the authors modeled their evolution since the beginning of the solar system.
At that time, Galileo’s moons, aligned around Jupiter’s equator like a miniature planetary system, were slowly forming from the disk of material around Jupiter, just as a planetary system is forming.
Just as other star systems evolved, Jupiter then matured, four moons were officially born, and the disk also disappeared. This planet, still rich in energy, shone brightly, although not as bright as a star, but nevertheless 10,000 times brighter than today.
Four “moon life” located too close to Jupiter and these conditions caused them to be irradiated much stronger than what they received from the Sun, or at least the two closest moons, Io and Europa, were subjected.
Young Jupiter then became “assassin”enough to chase away the most volatile substances present on the soil “baby planet” This causes the water to evaporate.
As a result, those celestial bodies born as planets conducive to life violently transformed into the strangest forms of celestial bodies. For example, Calisto is marked by one of the heaviest impact craters in the solar system, appearing to be half rock and half ice, while Io is the least icy in the solar system.
Could the volcanic moon Io have been a “baby planet” born to live?
Could the volcanic moon Io have been a “baby planet” born to live? – (Photo: NASA).
Io is also of particular interest to the research team. It is known as a volcanic moon and is the only place other than Earth where geological activity is confirmed in the solar system. However, its geological activity is too intense and transforms it into hell.
The past may not have been like that. Io may have had a significant amount of water ice after its formation, but it was displaced by Jupiter “massacre”.
If that doesn’t happen, Io could totally be one “competitor” of Earth, especially when previous studies have shown that Io is close enough to Jupiter to have enough tidal interactions to maintain many important reactions within the celestial body.
The research was just presented at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference taking place in Texas, USA.
Article source: NLD
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At least one habitable planet arose in the early days of the solar system until it was attacked by Jupiter, once 10,000 times brighter than it is today.
