Armenian scientist makes an important discovery within international group of astrophysicists

Yerevan/Mediamax/. An international team of researchers, with the participation of Institute of Astrophysics of Canarias (IAC), has discovered that the chemical structure of Earth-like planets can be very different from the bulk composition of Earth.

Mediamax notes quoting the statement of the IAC that the discovery was made by a team of scientists including Armenian astrophysicist Garik Israelian.

The statement reads that this may have a dramatic effect on the existence and formation of the biospheres and life on Earth-like planets.

“There could be billions of Earth-like planets in the Universe but a great majority of them may have a totally different internal and atmospheric structure. Building planets in chemically non-solar environments (which are very common in the Universe) may lead to the formation of strange worlds, very different from the Earth! The amount of radioactive and some refractory elements (especially Si) may have drastic implications for planetary processes such as plate tectonics and volcanic activity”, said Garik Israelian.

The full results of the research will be reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on March 1, 2012.

The members of the research team are: Garik Israelian and Jonay González Hernández (IAC), Elisa Delgado Mena and N. Santos (University of Porto, Portugal), and J. Carter-Bond and D. O’Brien (Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona).

Mediamax recalls that in 2010, Swiss astrophysicist, professor of the Astronomy Department of the Geneva Institute Michel Mayor and his scientific team including Garik Israelian and Nunu Santos became the first prize-winners of the international award after Victor Hambardzumyan established in Armenia.