Question:
Are there any other planets in our solar system that have water on
them.
Replies:
There may be frozen water on Mars and on the Moon!
I don't know of any evidence for water anywhere else in the solar
system.
John Hawley
I did a bit of research and it appears that water (mostly in the form
of ice or frost) may exist on (or in) many of the bodies of our solar
system. A recent (10/92) article in Science magazine spoke of radar
evidence for frozen water at the north pole of Mercury. Ice may also be
present at the smaller south pole. There is good evidence that Venus has
some small amount of water vapor in its atmosphere. All of the gas giants
(Jupiter, Saturn, etc.) likely have water ice as a significant component
of their cores, and Voyager found that Jupiter's and Saturn's atmospheres
have frozen water clouds, and below them clouds of liquid water droplets.
Ice is the major constituent of Saturn's rings, and is a major component of
the crust and mantle of several of Jupiter's and Saturn's moons (indeed,
there is speculation that Jupiter's moon Europa, in addition to having a
crust that is largely ice, may have a layer of liquid water beneath this
crust.) Ice is found on the surfaces of the major moons of Uranus and
Neptune. And comets consist mainly of ice. But if you want oceans (or
even lakes), Earth seems to be the only place in the solar system to look.
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