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Solar system reference diagram depicting the origin of water.

Solar system reference diagram depicting the origin of water.
Solar system reference diagram depicting the origin of water.
Solar system reference diagram depicting the origin of water.
Solar system reference diagram depicting the origin of water.
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251538
Cook, John E.
Solar system reference diagram depicting the origin of water.
Illustration
12/26/2007
SolarSystemWaterOrigin-labeled.jpg
Headline from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 58, No. 2, Pg. 6:
Where did Earth’s water come from? Not melted meteorites, according to scientists
Caption from WHOI News Release, 10/30/2014:
In this illustration of the early solar system, the dashed white line represents the snow linethe transition from the hotter inner solar system, where water ice is not stable (brown) to the outer Solar system, where water ice is stable (blue). Two possible ways that the inner solar system received water are: water molecules sticking to dust grains inside the "snow line" (as shown in the inset) and carbonaceous chondrite material flung into the inner solar system by the effect of gravity from protoJupiter. With either scenario, water must accrete to the inner planets within the first ca. 10 million years of solar system formation.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 51, No. 2, pg. 100:
In the early days of our solar system, when Earth and other planets were still taking shape, the dashed white line represents the snow linethe transition from the hotter inner solar system, where water ice was not stable (brown), to the outer solar system, where water ice could exist (blue). Encircling the inner edge of the snow line was a belt of asteroids that included a large one called Vesta. There are three hypotheses for how the inner solar system received water: 1) water molecules stuck to dust grains inside the snow line (inset), 2) meteoritic material was flung into the inner solar system by the effect of gravity from protoJupiter, and 3) comets brought water to the inner solar system after the planets were formed. Ph.D. student Adam Sarafians research showed that the second scenario most likely occurred within the first 14 million years of the solar systems history.
Illustration by Jack Cook
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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