Planetary scientists have long thought water was brought to ancient Earth by comets or asteroids. Now, they’re debating whether it could have been made here.
Samantha Cristoforetti/NASA
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Samantha Cristoforetti/NASA
Choose your fighter for the origin of water on Earth! Was it always here or did it come to this planet from somewhere else in space? And, either way, what does this mean for other water worlds in our galaxy?
To find out, we talk with Michael Wong, an astrobiologist and planetary scientist at Carnegie Science. He gets into scientists’ strongest candidates for the ways water could have come to our planet many, many years ago – including whether it could have been made here.
Buckle up: This is a hot debate in astrobiology right now.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out our Space Camp series and our episode on whether life started on the ocean floor.
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This episode was produced by Berly McCoy. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.