On Earth, continents are likely necessary to support life.
Potassium. Over geological timescales, these elements decay into other elements and produce heat.
"Here I present an exploratory method, for hypothetical Earth-like planets of stars whose photospheric abundances allow some inference of planetary radiogenic heating," she writes. An artist's impression of the Milky Way shows the thick and thin discs. Thin disk stars are younger and have higher metallicity than the older, metal-poor stars in the thick disk. Earth's plate tectonics began about 3 billion years ago, or about 9.5 billion years since the beginning of the Universe. In Greaves' sample, the first continents appeared 2 billion years before Earth's on thin disk stars.
The upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory is years away from launch, and there's time for the scientific community to sort out its search criteria and what makes the best targets.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Illegal border crossings are on the rise: 7,500 migrants were stopped on Sunday aloneThe surge in migrants may indicate that new policies put in place by the Biden administration in May, which initially kept numbers low, may now be having less of an impact.
Read more »
5 facts from our Field Guide to Boston that even locals may not knowEven for a long-time local, the city still surprises. Here are a few surprising Boston facts from WBUR's Field Guide, ranging from baked beans to crooked streets to the Boston Public Library.
Read more »
Erdogan Suggests Turkey May Walk Away From EU Membership BidPresident Recep Erdogan said Turkey may part ways with the European Union, implying the country is thinking about ending its membership bid.
Read more »
Fed may pencil in another interest rate hike this yearEconomists expect the Federal Reserved to pencil in another interest rate hike this year, and hold rates at peak levels longer than previously projected.
Read more »
Tesla May Have Perfected One-Piece Casting TechnologyReuters has learned that Tesla is close to perfecting a way to make large high pressure castings for its automobiles.
Read more »