Building Wet Planets Through High-Pressure Magma–Hydrogen Reactions

Some planets might home brew their own water

Tests on olivine hint that water-rich exoplanets could generate H2O internally, possibly explaining ocean worlds and even some of Earth’s early water.

Alien worlds may be able to make their own water

Ocean planets could arise from rocks reacting with thick hydrogen atmospheres, lab experiments show

Building wet planets through high-pressure magma–hydrogen reactions

Close-in transiting sub-Neptunes are abundant in our Galaxy1. Planetary interior models based on their observed radius–mass relationship suggest that sub-Neptunes contain a discernible amount of either hydrogen (dry planets) or water (wet planets) blanketing a core composed of rocks and metal2. Water-rich sub-Neptunes have been believed to form farther from the star and then migrate inwards to their present orbits3. Here we report experimental e…

How do planets get wet? Experiments show water creation during planet formation process

Our galaxy’s most abundant type of planet could be rich in liquid water due to formative interactions between magma oceans and primitive atmospheres during their early years. New experimental work demonstrates that large quantities of water are created as a natural consequence of planet formation. It represents a major step forward in how we think about the search for distant worlds capable of hosting life.