American astronomers found that more than quarter of the studied exoplanets in the galaxy may have oceans of liquid water hidden beneath its icy crust. This was reported in an article published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
The researchers conducted a mathematical analysis taking into account several tens of known exoplanets, including the ones that are in the system TRAPPIST-1. They came to the conclusion that many objects can be oceanic worlds like Europe and Enceladus. For the mathematical model took into account such indicators as the size of the exoplanet, its mass and the distance to the star. The researchers chose 53 extrasolar planets the size of Earth, but with different mass. Such planets, according to experts, more likely to have liquid water.
After that, the scientists checked how much energy is able to allocate the bowels of the planet due to radioactive decay and due to gravitational stretching caused by tidal forces. This release of heat may occur through the eruption of volcanoes, cryovolcanism, tectonic processes. Scientists have found that many exoplanets, the energy output is optimal for the existence of liquid water.
