

Major milestone in the search for water on distant planets - jere
http://astronomy.com/news/2014/09/major-milestone-in-the-search-for-water-on-distant-planets

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FranOntanaya
I wonder if this water is a byproduct of the solar wind and radiation, rather
than endogenous from the planet.

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goodcanadian
Cometary impact is considered the primary delivery method for water onto
planets. In other words, this is hydrogen and oxygen that bonded together in
the protoplanetary disk to form water; clumped together to form icy bodies
(comets); eventually had its orbit disturbed sending it into the inner system;
and finally, impacting a planet. It is also possible that the icy dust grains
(water) may have been part of the planet as it formed, assuming the planet
formed far enough out that water ice could exist. The planet would have then
migrated inwards (which new models are showing is the likely origin for the
close-in exoplanets).

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dang
Appeared at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8365211](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8365211)
but didn't get much discussion.

