Scientists have stumbled upon a new planet, Gliese 12b, that they believe could support alien life.
The rock was discovered when searching for habitable worlds and scientists say if there is no alien life on the planet, it’ll help in our search for places where there might be.
Gliese 12b is slightly smaller than Earth and believed to be slightly hotter, which is different to many planets outside our solar system (exoplanets) which are typically bigger and warmer than Earth.
It also has a different orbit, taking 12.8 days to circle it’s host star, and is similar to the size of Venus. Not only that, but it’s only 40 light-years away.
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Researchers estimate the surface estimate sits at 42C, lower than 5000 or so exoplanets outside our solar system that have been discovered so far.
Masterminds theorize it is one of the few places human could survive, although, admit they don’t know what the atmosphere look like.
Project assistant professor at the Astrobiology Centre in Tokyo, who co-led one research team with Akihiko Fukui, Masayuki Kuzuhara said: “We’ve found the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size world located to date.
“Although we don’t yet know whether it possesses an atmosphere, we’ve been thinking of it as an exo-Venus, with similar size and energy received from its star as our planetary neighbour in the solar system.”
Scientists used data from NASA‘s satellites to confirm the planet, its size, temperature and distance.
Professor Thomas Wilson, from the University of Warwick, said: “This is a really exciting discovery and will help our research into planets similar to Earth.
“Sadly, this planet is a little far away for us to experience it more closely. The light we are seeing now is from 40 years ago – that’s how long it has taken to reach us here on Earth.
“Planets like Gliese 12 b are few and far between, so for us to be able to examine one this closely and learn about its atmosphere and temperature is very rare.”
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Two teams, one in Tokyo, used NASA’s Transiting exoplanet Survey Satellite when they found the rock. It’s host star, Gliese 12, is a cool red dwarf in the constellation Pisces.
Although it’s much smaller, at around 27% of the size of our sun, and cooler, at 60%.
It could spark more observations with the James Webb Space Telescope, leading to more studies on stars in the Milky Way galaxy that could host planets that are habitable.
Co-author Dr Vincent Van Eylen, also from UCL, said: “GJ12b is an incredibly exciting planet because its size is identical to that of Earth.
“Even though GJ12b is about 15 times closer to its star than Earth is to our Sun, because it orbits such a small star the temperature on the planet may be quite similar to that on Earth.
“That doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the planet is habitable, but it does make it a great place to start looking.
“Fortunately it’s also a very nearby star, so we will learn much more about the planet and its atmosphere with telescopes like JWST in the next years.”
Gliese 12b is closer to its host star as well, 7% of the distance in comparison to Earth and the sun, but it receives more energy.
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Red dwarfs can send out frequent and powerful X-ray flares, however, astronomers say there are no signs of this on Gliese 12.
Shishir Dholakia, a doctoral student at the Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, co-led a research team with Larissa Palethorpe. Palethorpe is a doctoral student at UCL and the University of Edinburgh.
He said: “Gliese 12b represents one of the best targets to study whether Earth-size planets orbiting cool stars can retain their atmospheres, a crucial step to advance our understanding of habitability on planets across our galaxy.”
The study, led by Tokyo, is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Whereas, the Dholakia and Palethorpe findings are in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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