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An ocean with a depth of 2000 km. Water is under unimaginable pressure. The two exoplanets, whose discovery was announced by astronomers from the University of Montreal on Thursday, are truly surprising.
“This is a remarkable discovery in outer astronomy,” says Bjorn Beneke, an astrophysicist at the University of Montreal, who is one of the authors of the study published Thursday in the journal Nature Astronomy. “This is the first time we have two exoplanets where the only good explanation for their low densities is a good portion of their mass in water or low-density matter. »
Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d, which lie in the constellation Lyra 218 light-years from Earth, are only slightly larger than Earth. Thanks to images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, Montreal researchers discovered that their densities were such that these exoplanets must be composed of materials lighter than rock, but heavier than hydrogen or helium, which are essential for gas giants like Jupiter. “We’re talking about nitrogen, methane and water,” says Beneke. Water should be dominant. The ocean, made up mostly of water, should occupy a quarter to half the size of an exoplanet.
In August, the same team discovered another “oceanic” exoplanet, TOI-1452b. “But it was just a more likely candidate than the other oceanic exoplanets identified so far,” Beneke said. With Kepler-138 c and d, we’re pretty sure. »
An ocean depth of 2,000 kilometers indicates enormous pressures, which can turn a mixture of water, methane and nitrogen into a “supercritical” liquid, with properties that blend those of liquids and solids.
The two exoplanets described in Nature Astronomy are three times the diameter of Earth, but twice as massive. “Most Earth-like exoplanets are rocky. Kepler-138 c and d are closer to the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter Enceladus and Europa. »
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