Optimal measures for characterizing water-rich super-Earths
نویسندگان
چکیده
منابع مشابه
Optimal measures for characterizing water-rich super-Earths
The detection and atmospheric characterization of super-Earths is one of the major frontiers of exoplanetary science. Currently, extensive efforts are underway to detect molecules, particularly H2O, in super-Earth atmospheres. In the present work, we develop a systematic set of strategies to identify and observe potentially H2O-rich super-Earths that provide the best prospects for characterizin...
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The Earth is likely to have acquired most of its water during accretion. Internal heat of planetesimals by short-lived radioisotopes would have caused some water loss, but impacts into planetesimals were insufficiently energetic to produce further drying. Water is thought to be critical for the development of plate tectonics, because it lowers viscosities in the asthenosphere, enabling subducti...
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[1] The discovery of terrestrial-scale extrasolar planets, and their calculated abundance in the galaxy, has prompted speculation on their surface conditions and thermal structure. Both are dependent on the tectonic regime of a planet, which is itself a function of the balance between driving forces, and the resistive strength of the lithosphere. Here we use mantle convection simulations to sho...
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ژورنال
عنوان ژورنال: International Journal of Astrobiology
سال: 2014
ISSN: 1473-5504,1475-3006
DOI: 10.1017/s1473550414000421