Some Planets Might Make Their Own Water
Scientists have found that some planets may be able to create their own water instead of getting it from outside sources.
In a lab experiment, researchers tried to copy the extreme conditions inside some planets. They used a mineral called olivine — common deep inside planets — and blasted it with strong lasers while it was surrounded by hydrogen gas. The hydrogen took oxygen from the rock, and together they formed water. This discovery was published on October 29 in Nature.
This could explain why some exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) have a lot of water, even though they are very close to their stars. The same process might also explain where some of Earth’s water came from.
Scientists have found hundreds of exoplanets that are between the size of Earth and Neptune. Many of them are close to their stars and seem to have rocky centers covered by thick layers of water or hydrogen. But no one knew how they got so much water.
In our solar system, there’s a line called the “snow line.” Inside it, water can’t survive because the sun’s heat turns it into vapor — like on Venus. Outside it, planets like Saturn and Neptune are full of water and gas.
Earlier, experts thought that watery planets must have formed far away and then moved closer to their stars. But this new study shows that water can form right inside a planet if the right conditions are present.
Creating those conditions in the lab was very hard. Scientists used a special tool called a diamond anvil cell to make extreme pressure and heat. But hydrogen gas kept breaking the diamonds. By using short bursts of laser heat instead of continuous beams, they reduced the damage — though many diamonds still broke.
When the experiment worked, the team was surprised by how much water appeared. “There was no rock left — only metal and water,” said Harrison Horn, a planetary scientist. Another researcher, Dan Shim, said that if a planet has a thick hydrogen atmosphere, this process could create thousands of times more water than Earth has. In the experiment, about 18% of the material turned into water.
Scientists believe this reaction happens deep inside planets, where rock meets the hydrogen-rich atmosphere. It could make planets with 5% to 28% of their total mass made of water.
These planets might become huge ocean worlds — two to five times the size of Earth — or “hycean” worlds, with oceans under thick hydrogen layers. They might not be totally different but part of the same family of planets.
The study also adds to discussions about whether such planets could support life. Some scientists thought most of their water was trapped deep inside, leaving dry surfaces. But this new research shows there may actually be a lot more water available — possibly good news for life.
This discovery may also explain part of Earth’s history. While the conditions don’t exist now, early Earth may have had a thick hydrogen atmosphere that created water in the same way.
Evidence from ancient diamonds shows tiny pockets of water that look chemically different from surface water. This suggests that Earth’s water might come from two sources — some formed early inside the planet, and some brought later by comets and asteroids.
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