Some of Earth’s Water Is Older Than Our Solar System
Scientists have determined a significant portion of the water in our solar system, including the water on Earth, predates our solar system and probably came from interstellar space. And that’s good news for the search for life on other planets. Our solar system formed from a proto-planetary disc of swirling gas and other matter that encircled our sun. This mass probably had interstellar ice in it from the start, a team including the Carnegie Institution’s Conel Alexander and L. Ilsedore Cleeves from the University of Michigan concluded. The question was whether this ice has survived until the present day to become the water you put in your Slip ‘N Slide or if it was destroyed and new water was formed along with our solar system. The key is the ratio of hydrogen and its heavier isotope deuterium in the water found on Earth, meteorite and comet samples. Interstellar ice is more likely to have more deuterium because it forms at super cold temperatures. If all the interstellar water was destroyed,