A recent study has found evidence that some of the water on Earth actually formed earlier than the Sun.
A recent study has found evidence that some of the water on Earth actually formed earlier than the Sun.
Results of the study estimate that anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of the water molecules on Earth are over four and half billion years old.
Study leader Ilse Cleeves, an astronomer at the University of Michigan is quoted as saying: “It’s pretty amazing that a significant fraction of water on Earth predates the sun and the solar system.”
To determine the source and timing of how water on our planet was created, scientists examined the different kinds of water molecules and the conditions necessary for their formation in interstellar space.
Most scientists believe that water on Earth arrived here from collisions with comets or asteroids that were carrying ice, along with being created in the solar nebula that formed our solar system.
Researchers say that there could be a lot of water that is billions of years old floating around the universe in various planetary systems.
Since water is believed to be necessary for life to form, there might be exoplanets out there in the universe that are home to some kind of alien life.
