Эрдэмтэд амьдрал оршин тогтноогүй Дэлхийн виртуал хувилбарыг бүтээж, экзопланетуудын агаар мандал дахь хийн найрлагыг тайлбарлах шинэ аргачлалыг боловсрууллаа.
Вашингтоны их сургуулийн судлаачид Дэлхийн 5 тэрбум жилийн хувьслыг харуулсан компьютерын загварчлалыг бүтээжээ. Есдүгээр сарын 18-нд The Planetary Science Journal сэтгүүлд нийтлэгдсэн уг судалгаагаар манай гарагийн үүсэл, түүний цөм, манти, царцдас болон агаар мандлын харилцан үйлчлэлийг амьд биетгүйгээр загварчилсан байна. Энэхүү загвар нь Дэлхийн дулааны урсгал зэрэг 19 үндсэн үзүүлэлтийг үнэн зөвөөр гаргаж чаджээ.
Доктор Саманта Гилберт-Жанизекийн удирдсан тус баг өмнөх судалгаануудад дутагдалтай байсан агаар мандал болон гадаргын үйл явцыг нэгтгэснээр илүү бүрэн дүүрэн зураглалыг гаргасан юм. Энэ нь экзопланетуудын агаар мандалд илэрдэг хийнүүд нь амьд биетээс үүдэлтэй эсвэл геологийн идэвхжилийн үр дүн болохыг ялгахад чухал ач холбогдолтой. Учир нь одны цацраг болон гарагийн дотоод бүтцийн нөлөөгөөр амьд биетгүй гараг ч амьдрал байгаа мэт дохиог агаар мандалдаа агуулж болох юм.
Судлаачид уг загварыг ашиглан бусад хад чулуулаг бүхий экзопланетуудын агаар мандлыг шинжлэх боломжтой гэж үзэж байна. Хэрэв ажиглагдсан өгөгдөл нь амьд биетгүй загварын үр дүнтэй таарахгүй бол тухайн гараг нь амьдралын ул мөр хайх дараагийн чухал бай болно. Энэхүү аргачлал нь NASA-гийн ирээдүйд хэрэгжүүлэх Habitable Worlds Observatory зэрэг сансрын дурангийн ажиглалтыг тайлбарлахад үр дүнтэй суурь болох юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Scientists at the University of Washington have created a virtual version of Earth with one big difference: there’s no life on it. The simulation follows 5 billion years of planetary evolution, helping researchers figure out which atmospheric signals might point to living organisms on distant worlds.
Astronomers have already discovered more than 6,000 exoplanets outside our solar system. Some are rocky worlds that could have the right conditions for liquid water, one of the main ingredients scientists look for when searching for life. But finding a planet where life could survive is very different from finding one where life actually exists.
And that’s where things get tricky, a planet’s atmosphere can contain gases associated with living organisms, but those same gases can also come from geological activity or other natural processes. To tell the difference, researchers first need to understand what a planet might look like if life never appeared.
What If Earth Had No Life?
In a study published on September 18 in The Planetary Science Journal, researchers described a computer model that follows Earth’s evolution over 5 billion years. It starts with the planet’s formation around 4.5 billion years ago and continues roughly 500 million years into the future. The simulation tracks how chemicals move between Earth’s core, mantle, crust, surface and atmosphere, showing how these different systems interact and shape the planet’s environment over time.
The researchers tested their model against 19 known planetary properties, including heat flow through the mantle, and found that it could reproduce them. The project builds on earlier work from the laboratory of Rory Barnes, an astronomy professor at the University of Washington. Those previous models already included Earth’s interior and the effects of radiation from its star, but left out the surface and atmosphere.
Samantha Gilbert-Janizek, who led the new study while completing her doctorate, added those missing pieces to create a more complete picture of how a rocky planet evolves. By bringing the planet’s interior, surface and atmosphere together, the researchers developed a model that can also be adapted to study other rocky worlds.
A Planet That Looks Alive May Not Be
On Earth, living organisms continually release these gases into the atmosphere. Since they react with each other and are gradually destroyed, finding both together can suggest that something is constantly replacing them. For astronomers studying another planet, that combination could be a sign worth investigating.
A planet’s interior can release gases, while radiation from its star can change atmospheric chemistry. So a world with interesting atmospheric signals isn’t necessarily home to living organisms.
“This model can help us see how habitable but non-living planets might mimic living planets,” Gilbert-Janizek said in the University of Washington announcement.
The new simulation gives astronomers a way to test that possibility. Researchers can enter information about a rocky exoplanet and see whether the model produces an atmosphere similar to the one they’ve observed, without adding life to the equation. If the results don’t match, that planet becomes especially interesting. As Gilbert-Janizek explained, the goal is to better determine the probability that atmospheric observations indicate life on the surface.
Which Planets Are Worth Exploring?
According to the University of Washington team, the simulation can be adjusted to study different rocky exoplanets, making it useful for interpreting atmospheric observations from distant worlds. One project that could benefit is NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, a future space telescope intended to study potentially habitable planets.
The model’s ability to reproduce Earth’s properties gives researchers a starting point for exploring how other planets might behave. Barnes said the achievement follows more than a decade of work by multiple scientists. For the first time in this research effort, the model simultaneously reproduces properties of Earth’s interior, surface and atmosphere.
“After more than a decade of work by many scientists, Dr. Gilbert-Janizek has finally completed a model of the Earth that simultaneously reproduces properties of Earth’s core, mantle, surface and atmosphere. That calibration gives us confidence that future simulations of exoplanets will be accurate,”he explained.
The virtual Earth gives scientists a new way to search for extraterrestrial life by showing what a planet’s atmosphere could look like without living organisms.
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