NASA's flying observatory accurately measured the isotopic composition of water in the tail of comet Virtanen, which had come close to Earth in December last year. These measurements confirmed that these heavenly bodies could fill the oceans of our planet's water in the distant past, the scientists write in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"We discovered gigantic reserves of water, similar in composition to the terrestrial isotope, on the outskirts of the solar system. Water played a critical role in the development of life, and we have long wanted to understand not only how it came to Earth, but also how such processes working on planets with other stars, "- says Darek Lis (Darek Lis) from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA in Pasadena (USA).

Today, scientists believe that the Earth was formed in the "warm" part of the protoplanetary disk, where organic molecules and water could not exist due to the fact that the ultraviolet radiation of the luminaries ruptured water and the "bricks of life" into parts and did not allow them to merge.

For this reason, planetologists believe that water was brought to Earth from the cold distant approaches of the solar system, and organic matter either originated on the surface of the planet or was brought along with moisture.

Two classes of small celestial bodies, asteroids, and comets, claimed the role of these "water carriers" and suppliers of substances, equally bombarding the surface of the young Earth approximately 3.8-3.5 billion years ago.

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