"Two Water Worlds Unlike Anything in Our Solar System" --Found Orbiting a Kepler-Mission Star
Astronomers have a "Water World" planetary
system orbiting the star Kepler-62. This five-planet system has two
worlds in the habitable zone — the distance from their star at which
they receive enough light and warmth that liquid water could
theoretically exist on their surfaces. Modeling by researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) suggests that both planets are water worlds, their surfaces completely covered by a global ocean with no land in sight.
“These planets are unlike anything in our solar system. They have endless oceans,” said lead author Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
and the CfA. “There may be life there, but could it be technology-based
like ours? Life on these worlds would be under water with no easy
access to metals, to electricity, or fire for metallurgy.
Nonetheless, these worlds will still be beautiful, blue planets
circling an orange star — and maybe life’s inventiveness to get to a
technology stage will surprise us.”
