Liquid Water on Rocky Planets Could be 100 Times More Likely
Astronomers previously believed that you needed a special environment for a rocky planet to have liquid oceans on its surface, with just the right temperature and surface pressure. But a new study suggests that the radioactivity from rocks could melt water. Even if the surface is frozen, there could be oceans of water beneath the surface. Researchers suggest that there could be an average of one planet per star with these conditions in the Milky Way – 100 times more likely than previous estimates.