Jakarta –
Astronomers succeeded in finding planets in the habitable zone using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). This planet orbits the nearby red dwarf star TOI-715 and was later named Super-Earth TOI-715b.
This discovery was revealed thanks to research led by Georgina Dransfield at the University of Birmingham. The research team then moved forward to better understand the conditions under which life might have arisen.
According to scientists, the planet TOI-715b is potentially suitable for life, because it is only 137 light years from Earth.
“That is the distance from the star that can give this planet the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface,” said Georgina Dransfield and colleagues in the research, as quoted from Sci.newsWednesday (7/2/2024).
Planet TOI-715b is 1.5 the size of Earth
In size, the planet TOI-715b is known to be similar to Earth, only one and a half times larger.
“TOI-715b is about 1.5 times the width of Earth, and orbits within the habitable zone around its parent star,” the researchers said.
Even though it is in the habitable zone, astronomers say that it needs to be studied more deeply because much will depend on other properties this new planet has.
“Including how massive it is and whether it could be classed as a water world (making its atmosphere). If it exists, it is more prominent and much harder to detect than a more massive, denser, denser atmosphere. A drier world, it would likely be “the lower atmosphere is closer to the surface,” explained the researchers in a study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
What is the meaning of a habitable zone?
Quoted from earth.comscientists say that planet TOI-715b is in the “conservative” habitable zone of its host star.
What this means is that this zone is determined by its ability to maintain a temperature that allows liquid water to exist on the planet’s surface. It is an essential requirement for a planet to be habitable.
However, the existence of liquid water also depends on several other factors, including the right atmospheric conditions.
A conservative habitable zone represents a more narrowly defined area compared to a broader habitable zone, thereby providing a stricter benchmark of habitability potential.
Then, being in the habitable zone does not guarantee that a planet is habitable. The planet’s atmosphere plays an important role in maintaining the right conditions for liquid water.
Planets with thick atmospheres may trap too much heat, while planets with thin or no atmospheres may not be able to retain enough heat.
Therefore, scientists also focus on atmospheric composition and other factors that contribute to a planet’s ability to support life.
So, in short, the habitable zone represents a basic concept in the search for life beyond Earth.
By identifying planets in these zones, scientists are taking a significant step towards answering the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe or there are others.
TESS Achievements
Even so, this discovery is still important. This is because it not only adds TOI-715 b to the list of exoplanets located within the habitable zone, but also sets a new record for TESS by identifying the smallest planet discovered by the mission to date.
This achievement exceeds TESS’s initial expectations, and highlights the mission’s important role in expanding our knowledge of potentially habitable worlds beyond our solar system.
Watch the video “Scientists Say Humans Have Pushed Earth into the ‘Planetary Boundary’ Danger Zone”
(faz/nwk)
2024-02-07 13:30:00
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