14 DAY TRIAL // Extrasolar planets that once had liquid water on their surfaces could lose the chemical under the action of intense tidal and gravitational forces, a new study has determined. If that happens, all that is left is a barren, Venus-like world, which is incapable of supporting life.
While the research is not really significant for studies of gas giants and dwarf planets, it has a huge influence in our search for rocky, Earth-sized exoplanets that orbit inside their parent stars' habitable zones. This introduces a new factor that needs to be accounted for during planetary studies.
On Earth, we are only influenced by tidal forces from the Moon and the Sun, but moons around gas giants, such as Saturn and Jupiter, are experiencing gravitational pulls up to 1,000 times more intense.
“As candidates for habitable worlds are found, tidal effects need careful attention. You don't want to waste time on desiccated planets,” Space quotes University of Washington planetary scientist and astrobiologist Rory Barnes as saying.