like Earth?
2007-01-27 05:42:25 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Generally because it is either too hot or too cold. The origin of earths oceans is not completely understood by scientists but it has been suggested that the earth could have been bombarded by comets during a heavy bombardment phase of earths history. These comets which are frozen ice would then melt into the oceans over millions of years. The other theory states that volcanoes released water vapor into our atmosphere and torrential downpours created the oceans.
Uranus is believed to have an ocean underneath a thick, thick layer of liquid hydrogen. The pressure there is immense however and would instantly crush any living organism from earth. Internal heating from within the planet or moon is what could make an ocean possible on another celestial body. Magma and a hot planet interior.
2007-01-27 12:13:36 · answer #1 · answered by Professor Armitage 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
None of the planets have oceans for a variety of reasons--Mecury and Venus are simply too hot and Mars has so little atmosphere that liquid water cant exist (except for very short periods of time after which it evaporates or freezes. The gas giants might have large bodies of liquid--but their structure is so different you couldn't really call them oceans.
But at least two moons--Europa (Jupiter) and Titan (Saturn) do indeed have oceans. The one we know the most about is Titan (as a result of the Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn). Cassini sent a small probe into Titan's atmosphere which successfully landed. Its telemetry showed that Titan does have oceans. They aren't composed of water, though. Titan does appear to have water--but it is so cold the water is permanantly frozen as ice. The oceans of Titan are composed of methane--but the images sent back sow the look very much like Earth's oceans. A bit cold though--a couple of hundrees below zero!
2007-01-27 06:18:49 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, because it is either too hot and all the water it could have had, evaporated, or it is too cold and the water has frozen into ice caps, or that planet is made of gas or it just doesn't have water. Earth is the only one with a lot of liquid water on it, enough to have oceans. The other planets don't have the right conditions.
2007-01-27 05:48:27 · answer #3 · answered by Dana Mulder 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You know, you would think so, wouldn't you? Well, Mercury is so close to the sun liquid water can't form. Venus has a runaway greenhouse effect and so is too hot for liquid water to form. Mars might have had liquid water in the distant past, but Mars is just a little too small. In the upper atmosphere of earth, water molecules are split into hydrogen and oxygen, and the hydrogen atoms can be lost to open space. The process is very slow because earth's gravity is large enough to discourage the loss. That's not true for Mars, so, over the millennia it has slowly leaked its water away. The giants beyond Mars have the wrong composition, and beyond them it is simply too cold.
However, there are moons in the jovian system that may harbor water oceans beneath layers of ice. A probe needs to be sent to find out.
HTH
Charles
2007-01-27 05:57:34 · answer #4 · answered by Charles 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
There's no atmosphere, no oxygen and other gases that would make water. In our solar system Earth is the only one that kept its atmosphere. There are traces that other planets had water at one point, such as canyons which only water could make. Something happened to those planets and all the water disapeared. Some of the distant planets seemed to keep the water as ice. Because it is so cold there it all froze.
We can only imagine what is beyond our galaxy. If our sun is a star than look at the dark sky and see how many stars you see. They are all suns with planets circling around them.
I leave the rest to your imagination.
2007-01-27 14:03:17 · answer #5 · answered by Maks 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dont know but I do know that when they air out Mars they are going to create manmade oceans.
2007-01-27 10:19:51 · answer #6 · answered by Stephie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would imagine that they do. If they didn't they'd probably dry all out from the sun, no matter how far away. Instead of worrying about our country and its needs, Bush will probably have NASA make a trip out there to see. No, I take that back, Bush will be toast by then!
2007-01-27 05:48:08 · answer #7 · answered by Bud's Girl 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Who says? Have you been to all the other planets?
2007-01-27 05:45:27 · answer #8 · answered by atomictulip 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too far or too close to the sun. You really ought to check out how thingswork.com or how howstuffworks.com for these sort of questions.
2007-01-27 05:47:07 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
because the Supreme Geometer designed it that way
2007-01-27 07:01:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋