Water Oceans Likely To Be Ubiquitous, Say Astronomers

Water oceans on other earthlike planets are likely to be ubiquitous, says a team of U.K. astronomers. New ground-based observations of the atmosphere of a cooling stellar white dwarf point --- the burnt-out remains of a star once like ours --- indicate that at least one of this dying solar system’s asteroids was rich in water ice. As such, the team notes that it would have been capable of seeding an earthlike planet with as much as a third of its oceans’ water.