Planetary Habitability: The Origin of Water - Dr. Anat Shahar

More than 6,000 planets beyond our Solar System have been discovered, sparking a fundamental question: could any of these distant worlds support life? A key ingredient for life as we know it is liquid water, and in this talk, Carnegie Science Vice President for Research Anat Shahar will explain her investigations into how water can form naturally during the earliest stages of a planet’s formative history. Many young planets are thought to be covered by vast oceans of molten rock called magma oceans and surrounded by thick atmospheres rich in hydrogen. Shahar’s theoretical and laboratory experiments show that when hydrogen in the atmosphere reacts with molten rock, large amounts of water can be produced. Remarkably, this process could have generated enough water to fill Earth’s oceans, as well as a comparable amount stored deep inside our planet. These findings suggest that water—and with it the potential for habitable conditions—may arise more easily on rocky planets than previously thought, improving the chances that some of the many known exoplanets could be capable of supporting life. Anat Shahar - Staff Scientist, Carnegie Science Earth & Planets Laboratory Thumbnail Illustration Credit: Navid Marvi, Carnegie Science