Contrary to popular belief, a recent study indicates that life may be possible on planets that are further away from the sun. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Aberdeen and may overturn current popular opinions regarding life-supporting planets.
Today, many scientists believe that life can only survive in a section of the solar system called the "Goldilocks Zone" or the habitable zone. It is believed that planets that are too near or too far from their star will be too hot or too cold to support life. However, the recent study indicates that cold and rocky planets may actually support life. The study was published in Planetary and Space Science and the researchers behind it hope that their preliminary work will lead to other studies on the subject matter.
While cold and rocky planets may indeed support life, the team believes that this can only happen deep within the planet. While the surface of cold, rocky planets may be too inhospitable for life to flourish, the interior of the planet may be warm enough for liquid water to exist. And, where there is liquid water, life can exist.
Due to the fact that temperatures often rise the deeper one gets into a planet's crust, scientists are theorizing that life may thrive in underground environment. The team behind the study has created a computer model that simulates temperature differences in the interior of planets given certain factors such as the planet's distance from its star, the size of the planet, as well as the planet's composition.
According to the model, the scenario the researchers presented is indeed possible. The revised model could also expand the habitable zone of a system by as much as three times if temperatures around 5 kilometers under a planet's surface are taken into consideration. In other words, the deeper you go into a planet's surface, the larger the habitable zone will become.
Even in our home planet, life has been found to exist as deep as 5 miles below the Earth's surface. However, it may be possible for life to exist even deeper than that. The only problem is getting deep down enough to prove this.
