The terrestrial planet HD 63433d (the closest and smallest one) is very close to its parent star. (Alyssa Jankowski/University of Wisconsin-Madison)
[The Epoch Times, January 22, 2024](Epoch Times reporter Chen Juncun reported) Astronomers discovered an Earth-like planet in the backyard of the solar system, only 73 light-years away from the Earth. Its size is similar to the Earth, and it is the largest planet so far. The closest and youngest terrestrial planets have been discovered, like the Earth in its infancy. It helps people understand how planetary systems form and develop.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison stated in a press release that a study led by NASA researcher Melinda Soares-Furtado found that The Earth-like planet is called HD 63433d.
Suarez-Furtado will become a professor of astronomy at the school this fall. The study also included astronomers from around the world.
“HD 63433d is a useful planet because it may resemble early Earth,” Suarez-Furtado said.
HD 63433d orbits the parent star HD 63433. It is the third planet discovered from the star and the closest planet to the star. Its orbit period is only 4.2 days.
The size of this planet is very close to the Earth (about 1.1 times the diameter of the Earth). It is considered a very young planet, still in its infancy compared to Earth’s age of 4.5 billion years.
Judging by its orbit, astronomers are fairly certain that it is gravitationally locked, so that one side of it always faces its parent star and the other side is always dark. The side facing the parent star can be as hot as 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit (1,260 degrees Celsius), and lava may flow.
The terrestrial planet HD 63433d (the closest and smallest one) is very close to its parent star. (Alyssa Jankowski/University of Wisconsin-Madison)
HD 63433 is about the same size and type of star as our sun, but it is only about 400 million years old, not even one-tenth the age of the sun. The star is approximately 73 light-years from the Sun and is part of the group of stars that make up the constellation Ursa Major (including the Big Dipper).
Suarez-Furtado said HD 63433 can be seen in the dark at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with good binoculars.
The star was discovered because researchers previously carried out a planet hunting project called THYME. They used data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite in 2020 to study two other planets orbiting HD 63433. When the transit effects of these two planets were removed, they discovered HD 63433d.
Researchers say they can learn a lot from HD 63433d. The planet is uniquely positioned for further study. Its lively and young parent star HD 63433 is visible from both the northern and southern hemispheres, so many astronomical instruments come in handy.
In addition, the star is much closer to Earth than many stars Suárez-Furtado has studied, which may provide opportunities for astronomers to develop new methods to study gases escaping from the interior of its planet or measure its magnetic field.
“It’s kind of exciting that this is our solar system’s backyard,” Suarez-Furtado said.
The above research results were published in the Astronomical Journal.
Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei#
