Alien Worlds May Be Able To Make Their Own Water

Water is crucial for planetary behavior, influencing everything from life to plate tectonics. Planets can acquire water through cometary impacts or formation in colder regions of their solar systems. However, some exoplanets orbiting close to their stars present a puzzle, as they appear to have significant water despite the heat. New laboratory experiments offer a solution: these planets generate their own water. Researchers used diamond anvils and lasers to mimic the extreme conditions at the boundary of these planets' hydrogen atmospheres and molten rocky cores. Under these intense temperatures and pressures, minerals within the hydrogen atmosphere reacted. This process resulted in the formation of water. This "geologic cauldron" mechanism could sustain itself for billions of years. Therefore, even extremely hot planets could possess substantial water bodies. This finding suggests that ocean worlds, including potentially habitable ones, might be more prevalent than previously believed.