KOMPAS.com – Space telescope NASA’s Kepler, which stopped working in 2018, apparently identified it planet twin.
Planet twins located outside the Solar System or exoplanet these were called Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d.
The two planets orbit a star located about 218 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.
Data twin planets obtained in 2014, he then attracted the attention of scientists and made them repeat the observations using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Read also: This planet outside the solar system has the potential to have an ocean, like what?
It is hoped that repeated observations of the two planets can better understand what the twin planets formed from.
“We previously thought a planet slightly larger than Earth was a big ball of metal and rock, so we called it a super-Earth,” said Bjorn Benneke, a planetary astrophysicist at the University of Montreal in Canada.
However, after repeated observations, as quoted by Space, on Friday (12/16/2022) researchers found something surprising. These two planets are likely to contain air.
“We can now show that the two planets have different properties. Much of their entire volume is probably made up of water. This is the first time we have observed a planet that can be confidently identified as a water world, the type of planet that is been theorized for a long time by astronomers,” Benneke said.
Read also: Super Earth planet detected in red dwarf habitable zone, like what?
While they suspect these planets are composed of water, astronomers can’t say for sure whether these planets are indeed watery.
The new researchers were able to calculate the density of each planet, each of which has about 3 times the volume of Earth, but only twice the mass. This makes the twin planets less dense than Earth.
That low density means that at least half of each planet is made of something heavier than the gas giants’ hydrogen and helium, but lighter than rock.
Thus, by creating these planets, there is a possibility of containing water within them.
Read also: Giant Planet WASP-121b suspected to have rains of liquid gems, study explains
The researchers also say these two planets could be similar to icy satellites that exist outside the Solar System, which can hide oceans of liquid water under their icy shells and above their rocky cores.
“The two planets are like water-rich satellites orbiting Jupiter and Saturn, Europa or Enceladus, which are much larger,” said Caroline Piaulet, lead author of the study.
Researchers hope the planet Kepler-138 won’t be the last to offer this kind of mystery.
As tools and techniques advance, it’s not impossible for researchers to find and study planets far from their star, including many other aquatic worlds.
Research on this watery twin planet has been published in the journal Nature astronomy.
Read also: Cold planets exist throughout the Milky Way, study finds
Get updates Featured News And latest news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram group “Kompas.com News Update”, like click on the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must first install the Telegram application on your mobile phone.
