LIGHTER THAN AIR PLANET
SOUNDS LIKE DONALD DUCK
Nebulae such as the Lagoon Nebula, imaged by the Hubble Telescope are the primary sources of helium-3 in the universe. The amount of helium leaking from the Earth's core suggests the planet formed inside a solar nebula, researchers said Monday.
Photo courtesy of NASA/ESA
March 28 (UPI) -- A rare isotope of helium gas is leaking from the Earth's core, which suggests the planet formed inside a solar nebula, according to a study published Monday in AGU Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
The rare isotope, helium-3, has been measured at the Earth's surface in smaller quantities, but until now scientists were unsure what part of the planet's inner layers the gas was coming from.
Now, researchers from the University of New Mexico say the Earth's core is actually the major source of the gas.
Helium-3 is made primarily in nebulae -- massive, spinning clouds of gas and dust that formed the early solar system.
March 28 (UPI) -- A rare isotope of helium gas is leaking from the Earth's core, which suggests the planet formed inside a solar nebula, according to a study published Monday in AGU Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
The rare isotope, helium-3, has been measured at the Earth's surface in smaller quantities, but until now scientists were unsure what part of the planet's inner layers the gas was coming from.
Now, researchers from the University of New Mexico say the Earth's core is actually the major source of the gas.
Helium-3 is made primarily in nebulae -- massive, spinning clouds of gas and dust that formed the early solar system.
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Since most of the gas can be traced back to the Big Bang formation of the universe billions of years ago, the leak adds to evidence that the Earth formed inside a solar nebula.
The Earth would have had to form inside a solar nebula to get high concentrations of helium-3 at its core, researchers explained.
Roughly 2,000 grams of helium-3 leak from the Earth's core each year, which lead study author Peter Olson said is "about enough to fill a balloon the size of your desk."
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"It's a wonder of nature, and a clue for the history of the Earth, that there's still a significant amount of this isotope in the interior of the Earth," Olson, a geophysicist at the University of New Mexico, said in a press release.
Olson said the leaking of other nebula-created gases, such as hydrogen, at similar rates and locations could be a "smoking gun" for the core as the source.
The researchers modeled helium during two main stages, including during early formation of the Earth, when the planet accumulated the gas, and after the Moon formed, when the planet lost helium.
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Around 4 billion years ago, an object one-third the size of Earth hit the planet, re-melting its crust and allowing much of the helium to escape -- an escape that continues to this day, researchers said.
Olson said researchers plan to keep looking for other nebula-created gases to support the new theory about Earth's leaky core, but noted "there are many more mysteries than certainties."
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