Hydrogen volcanoes might boost planets’ potential for life

Repeated eruptions could warm otherwise icy worlds

exoplanet illustration

WARMING UP  Hydrogen-spewing volcanoes may warm worlds chilled by the distance from their star (one illustrated above), enhancing planets’ ability to support life, a new study suggests.

W. Henning/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Volcanoes that belch hydrogen could bump up the number of potentially habitable planets in the universe.