Scientists announced that they have discovered multiple planets outside the solar system where human life is possible. The new discovery could be the turning point for the search for life outside Earth.
The planets, which researchers from the University of Cambridge in England call “Hycean”, are surrounded by oceans and have a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
Some of the planets are permanently dark on one side and light on the other.
Because they are close to the stars, human life is thought to be possible only on the dark side.
‘MINI-NEPTUNE’
Scientists have been tracking other planets like Earth for a long time.
For the most part, they tried to find planets that were the same size, mass, temperature, and atmospheric composition as Earth.
Cambridge University astronomy experts, on the other hand, have discovered as a result of their latest studies that life may be possible in the form of a planet, which they describe as “mini-Neptune”, with a radius twice the Earth’s and eight times more mass.
According to the news of the Guardian newspaper published in England, experts believe that we can detect signs of life beyond our solar system as a result of rethinking the types of habitable planets in the next two or three years.
‘WATER WORDS’
The group of habitable planets, called Hyceans, has a warm, ocean-covered and hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
Compared to Earth-like planets, such planets are more numerous and easier to observe.
The planet known as K2-18b and called mini-Neptune is just one of them.
Speaking to the Guardian, one of the coordinators of the research, Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan describes the Hycean planets as “water worlds with hydrogen-rich atmospheres”. Focusing on finding such planets could also accelerate the search for life beyond Earth, Madhusudhan says.
Madhusudhan also states that with the support of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is expected to be launched into space by NASA in November, they will be able to discover the first biological indicators in the next two or three years. He points out that the atmospheric features of Earth-like minor planets make it difficult to discover signs of life because of their proximity to sun-like stars.
The radii of these planets, whose average atmospheric temperature reaches 200 degrees Celsius, are twice as large as the Earth and their masses are 10 times more.
Larger planets are easier to find than others the size of Earth.
In their paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, the Cambridge University research team stated that 90 percent of the mass of these planets is water.
However, life may not be possible outside of the permanent dark side, which the team calls the “dark hycean”. This is because the planets are too close to their stars and the bright side is too hot for life to be possible.
In other words, if we wanted to establish a life here, we would have to adapt to the “life in the water” form, since the planets are covered with a layer of water.
Madhusudhan emphasizes that “although a small amount of microbial life is possible here, life on Earth began in the same way.
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