Water lines in the spectrum of comet 103P/Hartley 2 with HIFI instrument on Herschel. Picture: Paul

Water lines in the spectrum of comet 103P/Hartley 2 with HIFI instrument on Herschel. Picture: Paul Hartogh, Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystem Forschung mineral oil Water is one of the most important molecules on Earth that fills more than 70% of the earth's surface and any (food) essential for life on Earth, but we still lack an explanation as to how we can have such large quantities on Earth. But now it is possible that we have taken the first steps toward finding the answer, after new results from Herschelteleskopet published in Nature. We have made measurements of the comet Hartley 2 whose access to water appears very similar to what we see in our oceans on earth. Because the Earth (and other planets) formed under such high temperatures that water and many other substances evaporate, mineral oil it is difficult to explain how, today, can be so much water on our earth. Scientists have long believed that comets were the transport of water to the soil surface when the solar system was still young and collisions between planetary bodies and comets occur more frequently. The new observations mineral oil from Herschel thus strengthen the theory that it is the comets we have to thank for our blue oceans.
To come to this conclusion have looked at the amount of deuterium, the heavier version of hydrogen with one neutron in the nucleus, the hydrogen in water in comets to determine the origin of our water. Since everything deuterium and hydrogen created in the big bang, and the amount decreases very slowly, you can use it to study many properties of astronomical objects, such as common origin. And now that we've measured the relative ratio between the water H 2 O and semi-heavy water HDO that agrees with it on Earth, it looks like our water originates in space. It should be noted that the comets, which came down to earth when the solar system was still young was huge lot more than they are today, so for the rising sea levels, we have only ourselves to blame.
Join and comment, keep track of the others have to say, or linking from your blog. Information October 6th, 2011 3 responses feeds and links Comment mineral oil Feed by this author Del.icio.us Digg Technorati Read more about: mineral oil Herschel, comet Hartley 2, comets, water Other posts Astronomers mineral oil in the sky, Part 9: Campbell's hydrogen mineral oil star offer: Comet Theatre for Children in Stockholm
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Interesting - the great lack of data has always been a problem here. The question is whether D / H may have been so stable over the Earth's history that it is enough with such a match - maybe needed even lower D / H to explain the origin?
This blog, if any, ought to be able to distinguish between real science and politicized "science" of bureaucrats who want to tax the community for a lot of CO2 money so they can get rich on their unproductive flume.
@ Lazar: Human impact still seems to be the simplest explanation for sea-level rise lately as climate scientists (more if sea levels are at Uppsala Initiative). To explain away as a bureaucratic mineral oil conspiracy sounds slightly less scientific.