Archives - Astronomy: Page 4
Author: Thrty2Mars (Thu May 17, 2007 10:25 am)
Title: An Odd Discovery
A new extrasolar planet called GJ 436b has been found to hold frozen
hot water on it's surface. The planet is about the size of Neptune, and orbits a small dwarf star 1/100th the size of our sun. American astronomers first discovered the planet in 2004, but the real findings were done by a European team in Geneva, Switzerland. The discovery is odd because we are used to water changing state by way of temperature variations. But astronomers have realized now that under extreme pressures, water can remain solid, even while enduring high temperatures. This is certainly the case on GJ 436b, where average temperatures were found to be 540 degrees Fahrenheit.
540 degrees. What is the chance that something actual will survive on that planet. Do they think there is life on this planet? I wonder what else they have found and kept to themselves.
No, I don't think any life could survive under those conditions. The temperatures and the pressure are too high. This extra solar planet was more like Neptune or Jupiter because it is mostly gas. The only reason it was out of the ordinary is because of the frozen water under such harsh conditions.
Well if frozen ice can form under such strange conditions then there is a possibility that life could exist under those conditions also. Think about the water bear; the smallest mammal alive. When conditions get too harsh the microscopic mammal drains the water from its body and is in a frozen state where they can survive the force of a nuclear and atomic bomb and the conditions that follow. They can live in this state without any concern of age or time. Once they are in better conditions they re-leiquefy and come back to life as though nothing happened.
That is a great example...and that is a mammal I've never heard of. That sounds like some fascinating facts to research more though.