Hi Toaster,
Yes there is but there doesn’t seem to be much at the surface. A lot of it is locked up in permafrost, ice caps, and because it is too cold to melt you don’t see running liquid water like we have on Earth. There also appears to be much less water on Mars than is on Earth.
Speaking of this you might like this picture http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/05/14/this-tiny-sphere-is-all-the-worlds-water/
Yes there is. There is also water on the Moon and probably on most large solar system objects. One of the moons of Jupiter is thought to have massive oceans beneath its very smooth surface of ice. So, water is everywhere in the solar system and, in fact, water is abundant throughout space. A very useful characteristic of water is that in interstellar space it emits radio waves at a very specific frequency and, even better, under the right conditions it will form a MASER, that is Microwave Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation. This is exactly the same as a LASER, but with radio waves. The MASER emission is very bright and can be used to measure the dynamics of objects, most famously to measure the accurate masses of black holes in other galaxies. Amazing to think, naturally occurring LASERS in space using water!!! So, “water, water everywhere…..”. Useful to us for sustaining life, but also very useful in astrophysics and for radio astronomers to figure out what is going on in the Universe.
Hi Toaster,
Don’t really have anything to add as Steven and James have already answered your question – nice to learn about water and lasers/masers!
But I do have a question for Steven: as there is water on some planets and moons, is it likely that there is or was microscopic life there in the past? Has any evidence of such life being there in the past been found anywhere?
shadycactus6
toaster
Hi Toaster,
Yes there is but there doesn’t seem to be much at the surface. A lot of it is locked up in permafrost, ice caps, and because it is too cold to melt you don’t see running liquid water like we have on Earth. There also appears to be much less water on Mars than is on Earth.
Speaking of this you might like this picture http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/05/14/this-tiny-sphere-is-all-the-worlds-water/
1
Yes there is. There is also water on the Moon and probably on most large solar system objects. One of the moons of Jupiter is thought to have massive oceans beneath its very smooth surface of ice. So, water is everywhere in the solar system and, in fact, water is abundant throughout space. A very useful characteristic of water is that in interstellar space it emits radio waves at a very specific frequency and, even better, under the right conditions it will form a MASER, that is Microwave Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation. This is exactly the same as a LASER, but with radio waves. The MASER emission is very bright and can be used to measure the dynamics of objects, most famously to measure the accurate masses of black holes in other galaxies. Amazing to think, naturally occurring LASERS in space using water!!! So, “water, water everywhere…..”. Useful to us for sustaining life, but also very useful in astrophysics and for radio astronomers to figure out what is going on in the Universe.
1
Hi Toaster,
Don’t really have anything to add as Steven and James have already answered your question – nice to learn about water and lasers/masers!
But I do have a question for Steven: as there is water on some planets and moons, is it likely that there is or was microscopic life there in the past? Has any evidence of such life being there in the past been found anywhere?
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Looks like this is covered
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