NASA scientists find a comet carrying water similar to Earth's water

science and technology

A team of international astronomers took a few small steps to answer a question that puzzled them a lot: "Where did the water come from?", By studying water in a nearby comet named 46P / Wirtanen.

"We have identified a vast reservoir of Earth-like water in the outer edges of the solar system," said study author Darck Liz in a statement.

The study, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics on May 20, used NASA's "Stratosphere" and infraredSOFIA) To study the so-called "Christmas Comet", which approached the Earth in December 2018.

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According to the US space site, a long-term theory assumes that Earth's water has been connected to the Earth by ice comets arising from the outer reaches of the solar system. Comets travel through space filled with dust, ice and other chemicals, and sometimes collide with planets.

The formation of the Earth may have occurred when small rock bodies collided with each other, but this was very poor water. Thus, the theory suggests that comets may have connected some of the water that formed 70% of the planet when it hit the Earth.

However, the evidence that comets contained the same type of water on the ground was limited, and to identify a comet carrying "Earth-like" water, researchers began studying comets.

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