The largest body of the asteroid zone between Mars and Jupiter, the day, may have once had all the main "ingredients" for life. The international team of scientists found out that billions of years ago, there have been a long source of chemical energy under the surface of the object, which could provide bacterial organisms. The work was published in the science Advances magazine.
"Inner waters on earth, mixed with the ocean, become a real holiday for bacteria. Therefore, it is important to understand whether something similar has existed on the day, "said Sam Kurville, a researcher at the University of Arizona.
Earlier, the "Down" mission completed in 2018 has discovered salt, organic molecules on the day and the underground salt ocean. Now this image has been added to the third element, chemical energy, which arises from the interaction of water and gas from rocks warmed in the nucleus.
Scientists have modeled the temperature and chemical evolution of the day and show that 2.5 to 4 billion years ago, the inner part of it has emitted from the decay of radioactive elements. This warmed water and sat down with methane and carbon dioxide, potential "fuel" for bacterial metabolism.
Today, the fours have already lost its internal heat sources, its water has almost completely frozen, and the remaining liquid has turned into a condensed saltwater. However, in the past, the dwarf planet had a "window of residentiality" when life could have happened there at least theoretically.
The authors of the work note that the results are important not only for the day. Such scenarios could develop on other sizes of similar sizes of the solar system, where there is no gravity of warmth of the giant planets, both on Europe or Encelade.
Translation of: Euromedia24.com
