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Rogue-Planet Moons Could Harbor Oceans for Billions Without Sunlight

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Source: Space Daily
Rogue-Planet Moons Could Harbor Oceans for Billions Without Sunlight
Photo: Space Daily
TL;DR

A 2026 modelling study from LMU Munich and collaborators suggests an Earth‑sized moon orbiting a Jupiter‑like rogue planet could maintain surface liquid water for up to about 4.3 billion years without any starlight, if enveloped in a thick (≈100 bar) hydrogen atmosphere and driven by tidal heating—though this relies on favorable assumptions, omits many real‑world complexities, and no such exomoons have been observed yet.

Topics:sciencespace#exomoon#hydrogen-atmosphere#liquid-water#rogue-planet#space#tidal-heating
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We assume life needs a sun, but a team at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich calculated in 2026 that moons orbiting starless rogue planets could sustain liquid oceans for up to 4.3 billion years — roughly as long as Earth has existed — without a single ra  Space Daily

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