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The Solar System Is Awash In Water

An anonymous reader writes: NASA has published an article detailing the vast amount of water found on other worlds in our solar system. "There are several worlds thought to possess liquid water beneath their surfaces, and many more that have water in the form of ice or vapor. Water is found in primitive bodies like comets and asteroids, and dwarf planets like Ceres. The atmospheres and interiors of the four giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — are thought to contain enormous quantities of the wet stuff, and their moons and rings have substantial water ice. Perhaps the most surprising water worlds are the five icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn that show strong evidence of oceans beneath their surfaces: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto at Jupiter, and Enceladus and Titan at Saturn." They've released an infographic to accompany the article. It's also bolstered by new research from the Niels Bohr Institute, which confirmed that glaciers on Mars do contain a large quantity of water ice. These glaciers are separate from the ice caps, existing in belts closer to the planet's equator. This ice has a total volume of roughly 150 billion cubic meters — enough to cover the entirety of Mars' surface with one meter of ice (abstract).

9 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Mystery Solved by wubti · · Score: 2

    We found out where all of California's water has gone

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    You are unique, just like everyone else.
  2. Re:It's not really all that shocking. by gstoddart · · Score: 2

    Well, if the assumption has been the water arrived here through cometary bombardment, and that modern comets and asteroids contain a fair bit of water ... shouldn't we be assuming that there would have to be vast amount of water in the universe?

    It sometimes people on the one hand keep saying "look at all the evidence of water", and then they turn around and say "holy cow, water".

    It just seems like at this point we should expect there to be water. So I'm not sure why people still keep acting like we're the only place where you'll find it.

    I'm more the mind which says "how could there not be water in vast quantities?

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    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  3. Poor California by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks like California is not part of the solar system. It does not seem to be awash in water.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  4. Actually... by sycodon · · Score: 2

    ...it is useable . And for about the same price as shipping it in from other states.

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    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  5. Relativity by fnj · · Score: 4, Informative

    If it is true that Mars contains 150 billion cubic meters, that is still an infinitesimal amount compared to Earth. There is 1.35 billion cubic km in all the oceans on Earth, which is to say 1.35*10^18, or 1.35 billion billion cubic meters. Most of the surface of the Earth is covered by water, not one meter thick, but averaging over 3000 meters.

    98% of the mass of the universe is hydrogen and helium. Only 1% is oxygen.

  6. Re:It's not really all that shocking. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

    Of course, since water is the 'universal solvent' this does not bode well for us.

    We're going to need a planet sized can of WD-40 to keep the galaxy from dissolving.

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  7. Re:It's not really all that shocking. by gstoddart · · Score: 2

    LOL ... honestly, if you can have a cloud of alcohol in space which is 288 billion miles across ... given the sheer size of the universe, if there isn't a puddle of WD40 someplace in the universe I'll be surprised.

    Billions and billions of galaxies containing billions and billions of stars ... there's probably an an entire Astro Glide Nebula or something, and one made of just chocolate pudding. ;-)

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    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  8. Re:Fusion here we come! by ralphsiegler · · Score: 3, Informative

    Offtopic? The ratio of deuterium to protium from water in comets originating in the Oort cloud is 3.4 times that of Earth's water

  9. Awash in Water!?! by Zalbik · · Score: 2

    The Solar System is awash in water?!?!

    That's the last straw. I'm gonna build an ark.

    Anyone know where I can get a tape measure that measures in cubits?