A potential planet that could host humans was found.
Earth-Like Exoplanet Discovered
Astronomers have been looking for the next planet that could support life. A new study suggests that the Earth-like exoplanet Gliese 12 b, 40 light years away, has the potential to be human's future home.
Gliese 12 b is projected to be slightly smaller than our planet and, assuming it lacks an atmosphere, has a surface temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. It is located slightly inside the habitable zone, the distance from a star at which the surfaces of planets in orbit might support liquid water.
Astronomers will examine Gliese 12 b to determine whether it has an atmosphere similar to Earth's. This will allow them to determine whether the planet can sustain the proper temperature for water to form on its surface, which is necessary for supporting life.
Naming Gliese 12 b the "nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size world to date," NASA's $9.5 billion James Webb Space Telescope is considering it for future investigation.
An international team of astronomers used NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) to determine the position of Gliese 12 b.
The "transit method," used when a planet passes in front of its star and causes a decrease in brightness, is frequently used to make these findings.
When light from the star travels through the exoplanet's atmosphere, some of the wavelengths are absorbed, releasing gas molecules that are detectable by telescopes like the James Webb.
The researchers discovered that Gliese 12 b orbits its cold red dwarf star, Gliese 12, far more closely than Earth. Gliese 12 b completes one orbit every 12.8 days.
According to Shishir Dholakia, a doctoral student at the Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, Gliese 12 b is one of the best targets for studying whether Earth-size planets orbiting cool stars can retain their atmospheres. This is an important step in advancing our understanding of habitability on planets across our galaxy.
The exoplanet receives 1.6 times more energy from its dwarf star because it is only 7% of the distance between the Sun and the Earth.
But whether or not Gliese 12 b has an atmosphere similar to Earth's determines whether or not it is habitable, bringing its temperature closer to the planet's average of 59 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to Dholakia, atmospheres can significantly alter the real surface temperature by retaining heat and changing depending on their nature. The planet's "equilibrium temperature" is its temperature if it has no atmosphere.
After comparing Gliese 12 b to Venus, the researchers found that the two planets are around the same size and that Gliese 12 b receives about 85% of its energy from its star.
Gliese 12 b's temperature is between Earth and Venus, and its atmosphere may contain valuable insights into the processes planets undergo to become habitable.
Examining the number of storms that the exoplanet's star emits is crucial to determining whether or not it may be habitable.
Michael McElwain, a research astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author of the Gliese 12 b study, said they needed additional instances like Gliese 12 b to understand better the diversity of atmospheres and evolutionary outcomes of these planets.
What Is Exoplanet Gliese 12 b?
In the constellation Pisces, the host star, known as Gliese 12, is a cold red dwarf that can be found around 40 light-years away. With only 27% of the Sun's mass and 60% of its surface temperature, the star is considerably smaller than the Sun.
The newly discovered planet, known as Gliese 12 b, orbits the Earth every 12.8 days and is around the size of Venus or slightly smaller. If it has no atmosphere, its surface temperature is predicted to be about 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius).
Merely 7% of the distance between Earth and the Sun separates Gliese 12 from the newly discovered planet. About 85% of what Venus receives and 1.6 times more energy from its star than Earth receives from the Sun are sent to the planet.
The star's storminess is crucial in maintaining an atmosphere. Due to their propensity for magnetic activity, red dwarfs frequently produce intense X-ray flares. Both teams' assessments, however, conclude that Gliese 12 does not exhibit any extreme behavior.
Any atmosphere is essentially sampled during transit as the light from the host star travels through it. Facilities like NASA's James Webb Space Telescope can identify a collection of chemical fingerprints from the transit because various gas molecules absorb different colors.
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