It completes its orbit every 12.8 days...the discovery of a planet slightly smaller than Earth that may be theoretically habitable
It completes its orbit every 12.8 days...the discovery of a planet slightly smaller than Earth that may be theoretically habitable
Two teams of scientists have discovered a planet smaller than Earth, but larger than Venus, orbiting a small star about 40 light-years away, and it is theoretically habitable, according to their claim.
According to two studies published Thursday, the exoplanet, called Gliese 12b, revolves around a type of star known as a red dwarf. It is a relatively cold star, located in the constellation Pisces, and its size is about 27% of the size of our sun, and 60% of its temperature.
Theoretically fit for life
Because its star is much smaller than the Sun, Gliese 12b still falls within the habitable zone, the ideal distance away from the star where liquid water could exist, even though it completes its orbit every 12.8 days.
Working on the assumption that the exoplanet does not contain an atmosphere, according to scientists, its surface temperature is estimated at about 42 degrees Celsius.
“We have discovered the closest, transient, temperate, Earth-sized world that exists to date,” said Masayuki Kuzuhara, an assistant professor at the Center for Astrobiology in Tokyo.
Once Earth-sized temperate planets are identified, scientists can then analyze them to determine what elements are in their atmospheres and, most importantly, whether water is present to sustain life.
Important discovery
“There are only a few ‘exoplanets’ that might be good candidates,” Larissa Palethorpe, a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and University College London who co-led the other study, told CNN. “This is the closest one to us, and it is a very important discovery.”
Information about the new planet
To discover Gliese 12b, scientists used publicly available data collected by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a space telescope that gazes at tens of thousands of stars a month and tracks changes in their brightness, which could indicate... The presence of exoplanets orbiting around it.
It is easier for astronomers to find exoplanets orbiting red dwarf-type stars because their relatively small size leads to a greater dimming effect during each transit.
Currently, scientists are unsure what this planet's atmosphere is made of, whether there is one, and whether there is water, although Palethorpe noted that they do not expect to find water there.
She said: “We may not find water in it, and then we know that the phenomenon of the global warming effect has already occurred on this planet, and it has become more like the planet Venus.”
She added: “There could be water, in which case it would be more like our planet...or there could be detectable signatures that would show you that the greenhouse effect is in progress, so it could be losing water.”
For the next stage of analyzing the exoplanet's atmosphere, scientists hope to use the James Webb Space Telescope and conduct spectroscopic analysis.
This method involves capturing starlight shining through the atmosphere of an exoplanet and observing the wavelengths that certain molecules absorb, revealing their presence in the atmosphere.
In addition to shedding light on the exoplanet itself, Palethorpe noted that scientists hope this work will help us better understand our planet.
She added: “What this particular planet will teach us is what happened for the Earth to remain habitable and what happened to Venus and it is no longer habitable. It can tell us about the habitability paths that planets take during their evolution.”
But although the exoplanet may be habitable for humans and is relatively “close” to our solar system in astronomical terms, it is unlikely that anyone will visit it any time soon.
“It's inaccessible, it's 12 parsecs away,” Palethorpe explained, adding that it would take about 225,000 years to reach Gliese 12b using the fastest spacecraft currently in existence.
Source: websites