Scientists have discovered many aquatic exoplanets "suitable for life"

An international team of researchers has discovered that a large number of "water worlds" orbit around

M dwarf stars. This is one of the most common types of stars.

Thanks to better tools, scientistsMore and more planets are being found in distant systems. Currently, more than 5 thousand confirmed exoplanets and even more candidates are known. These findings make it possible to conduct comparative studies on a large sample. In the new work, planetary scientists studied a group of planets that are visible around M dwarfs. These are the most common type of stars visible in the Milky Way and dozens of planets have already been found around them.

Since the stars are much brighter than their planets,researchers generally do not see the planets themselves. They can fix them only by deviations in the orbit of a star or a shadow that flashed during an eclipse. Therefore, the true appearance of such planets remains a mystery.

In their work, the researchers combined the dataobtained in the process of observing the transit of planets across the disk of their stars with data on the influence of their gravity on the position of the star. Based on these measurements, scientists have come to the conclusion that most rocky planets contain water or other light liquid inside. The density of a large percentage of the planets suggested that they were too light for their size to be pure rock.

Europa (moon of Jupiter). Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

Researchers say such "water worlds"cannot be imagined as similar to the Earth. The water in them is hidden inside the rocks or under the surface. Such planets can be compared to Europa, the satellite of Jupiter, on which the ocean splashes under a hard crust.

Water is the main condition for the existence of life inthe form in which we know it, scientists add. The presence of a large number of worlds that have such a liquid environment increases the potential chances of the development of life. The researchers plan to use the James Webb Space Telescope to take a closer look at one of these exoplanets.

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