A study conducted by NASA and aimed at exoplanets has shown that 17 planets located outside the solar system may have oceans of liquid water, a necessary “ingredient” for life, and which will be located under ice caps, the US space agency announced.

Exoplanets are planets located outside our solar system. According to NASA, the water in these oceans can erupt from time to time through the ice crust in the form of geysers.

American researchers for the first time calculated the activity of geysers on these exoplanets. They identified two exoplanets close enough that signs of these eruptions could be observed using telescopes on Earth.

“Our analyzes suggest that these 17 exoplanets may have icy surfaces but receive enough internal heat from the decay of radioactive elements and from the tidal forces of their host stars to support internal oceans,” said Linnie Quick of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. . , Maryland.

“Because of the amount of internal heat they receive, all the planets in our study may also exhibit cryovolcanic eruptions in the form of geyser-like filaments,” added Lynne Quick. (Sources: NASA, Agerpres)