So here's another reason for not getting excited about water in exo-environments …
Nearby Planet-Forming Disk Holds Water for Thousands of Oceans
Quote:
Scientists have found thousands of Earth-oceans' worth of it within the planet-forming disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae. TW Hydrae is 176 light years away in the constellation Hydra and is the closest solar-system-to-be.
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Scientists had previously found warm water vapor in planet-forming disks close to the central star. But until now, evidence for vast quantities of water extending into the cooler, far reaches of disks where comets and giant planets take shape had not emerged. The more water available in disks for icy comets to form, the greater the chances that large amounts will eventually reach new planets through impacts.
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So, detection of water on an exo-planet would be no great surprise … I mean it has to come from somewhere in the first place … and it seems to be very common throughout the galaxy. Even if we were to detect the presence of liquid water on a remote exo-planet, in a warm Solar irradiated HZ … what then ?
How would this discovery then take us further in understanding about life than the above one ..??.. and thereby represent a driver for prioritisation of this avenue of investigation? I mean, its already been remotely discovered according to the above announcement …
Even if remote detection of other terrestrial 'bio-signatures', (which are presently unassociated with other hypothesised instances of life beyond Earth), were accompanying such a discovery in an exo-planet environment, given the multitude of things also able to produce remotely detectable 'bio-signatures', how would this discovery further scientific knowledge about exo-life (ie: beyond more conjecture) ?
Cheers