Astronomers from Germany came up with an unusual discovery. They managed to discover a planet tens of light years away on which life could exist. The exoplanet with conditions similar to Earth has been named Wolf 1069 b, after the star it orbits.
Dreams of finding a second planet that could support life may have become a reality. Scientists from the German Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) have succeeded in discovering a planet in space that could meet the conditions for the emergence of life similar to those on Earth.
A team of astronomers has discovered a new planet near the star Wolf 1069, about 31 light-years from Earth. The new planet also got its name. But whoever expected the noble name given to celestial bodies in the Solar System would be mistaken. Astronomers have named it Wolf 1069 b after its star.
The new planet met the strict requirements for the conditions for the origin of life. It has the right size and distance from its star. Such planets are very rare. According to the MPIA, astronomers have found a total of 5,000 exoplanets, but only 1.5 percent of them were smaller than twice the size of Earth. And of those, about ten were at the right distance from the star to hold liquid water.
Compared to Earth, however, the planet has a significantly shorter year. “When we analyzed the data from Wolf 1069, we discovered a clean, low-amplitude signal that appears to be a planet about the size of the planet Earth. It orbits its star in 15.6 days at about one-fifteenth the distance between Earth and the Sun,” said astronomer Diana Kossakowska, who she led the team.
Even though the new planet is significantly closer to the star than Earth is to the Sun, that doesn’t mean you’d get dirty on its surface. The star Wolf 1069 is a so-called red dwarf, which is much fainter and not as bright as our Sun. So on the planet Wolf 1069 b, you could enjoy the red sun all day, and not just at sunset.
But these parameters are still not sufficient to call the planet habitable. It also needs a strong atmosphere to maintain a stable average temperature. At the same time, it would also protect against radiation or the impact of bodies from space. It is crucial for the origin of life.
Astronomers are therefore cautious with optimism. It is not clear if Wolf 1069 b has any atmosphere at all. And even its presence would not be a sure indicator of habitability. Red dwarfs are typical for their great stellar activity, during which they can threaten the possible atmospheres of planets in their vicinity. Something similar happened in the past of Mars, which was stripped of its atmosphere by the Sun by the strong solar wind.
But the newly discovered planet is interesting for one more reason. Unlike Earth, which rotates on its journey through space, Wolf 1069 b is forever facing one side of its star. Like our Moon, it is divided into the far side and the far side. On one of them eternal day reigns, while the other is forever in darkness.
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