Astronomers found a planet that could sustain life about 117 light-years away from Earth, orbiting a dying star. Experts said they spotted the planet in a ring of planetary bodies orbiting the habitable zone of a white dwarf where water could exist and neither be too hot nor too cold to sustain life.
If the theory is true, it would be the first time a potentially habitable planet has been discovered orbiting a dying star. Study lead author Professor Jay Farihi from the University College London (UCL) said that this discovery is completely new as astronomers have not detected any kind of planetary body in the habitable zone of a white dwarf before.
Planetary Bodies Orbiting In the Habitable Zone of A Dying Star Observed For the First Time
Planet Orbiting A White Dwarf Could Sustain Life
Astronomers find it challenging to spot planets orbiting a white dwarf because the star is fainter than other main-sequence stars, such as the Sun in the Solar System, so they have only observed gas giants orbiting such kind of star.
In the new study, titled "Relentless and Complex Transits From a Planetesimal Debris Disc," published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, researchers used the ULTRACAM high-speed camera to observe the white dwarf star called WD1054-226, located 177 light-years away from Earth and recorded changes in its light over 18 nights.
Phys.org reported that the team also looked at data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to better interpret the changes in the light they observed. TESS allows astronomers to confirm the planetary structures they spotted that had a 25-hour orbit.
They observed that enormous clouds of orbiting material almost always obscure the light from the white dwarf WD1054-226 as they pass in front of it. Researchers explained that this could suggest a ring of planetary bodies orbiting the star.
They found that the light from WD1054-226 was obscured every 23 minutes by enormous clouds of orbiting material passing in front of it, suggesting a ring of planetary debris orbiting the star. Professor Farihi said that the moon-sized structures they observed are irregular and dusty rather than solid, spherical bodies.
The possibility of a planet in a habitable zone of a white dwarf is an exciting and unexpected discovery for them. Researchers are now working to confirm the presence of a planet in this zone.
ALSO READ: NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Possibly Found Earth 2.0
What is A Habitable Zone?
According to Sci-News, it is unusual to see a planet in the habitable zone of a white dwarf because it would likely be gone during the giant star phase. Any planet near a white dwarf in the habitable zone could potentially host water and support life. Scientists said that the planet would be habitable for at least two billion years.
Mail Online explained that the habitable zone, also known as the Goldilocks zone, is the range of orbits around a star with temperatures that allow a planet to support liquid water. The temperature needs to be just right to be suitable for water and living creatures to exist.
The boundaries of this zone are critical because when the planet is too far, it could experience a runaway of greenhouse gas effect, and water will freeze. Astronomers throughout the years have found that many stars have Goldilocks zone and some of them have planets, such as the Kepler-186f discovered in 2014.
RELATED ARTICLE: Exoplanets With "Goldilocks Zone" Could Host Life, NASA Suggests
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