The discovery of Gliese 12 b, a Venus-like planet just 40 light-years away, offers new opportunities to understand the conditions that support life in the universe. This "evil twin" receives much more radiation from its star compared to Earth, raising intriguing questions for further studies using advanced telescopes
The discovery of a Venus-like planet orbiting a star in the vicinity of our solar system has raised hopes that astronomers may one day unravel the secret of why life appeared on Earth.
It is difficult to study life in the universe because we only have one example of a planet where life has been confirmed: Earth. It is difficult to say which characteristics of the earth are necessary for the emergence of life, and which of the characteristics are not relevant. Until we find an "Earth twin" that also has the conditions for life, the best astronomers can do is to study "evil twins", planets with initial conditions similar to Earth that evolved very differently, with environments unsuitable for life.
In the solar system, Venus and Mars are two examples of lifeless "evil twins". But with only two examples, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how severe the conditions for life to form might be. Since the 5500s, more than XNUMX planets orbiting stars other than the Sun have been discovered. But most of these planets are hundreds of light-years away from Earth, so it is difficult to study them in detail.
In this study, the team found and characterized a new planet named Gliese 12 b, based on data from NASA's Tess Space Telescope, the MuSCAT2 and MuSCAT3 cameras developed by the Astrological Center of Japan and the University of Tokyo, and the Sobre Telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Gliese 12 b is close to the solar system, it is only 40 light years away in the direction of Pisces b is an ideal target for research using the Webb Space Telescope and future 12-meter telescopes.
So far, scientists have realized that the orbital cycle of Glyze 12 b, that is, one year on it, is only 12.8 days. The radius of the planet is only 4% smaller than that of the Earth, and the mass is less than 3.9 times the mass of the Earth. Gliese 12 b receives 1.6 times more radiation from its star than Earth receives from the Sun. For comparison, Venus receives 1.9 times more radiation than the Earth.
Based on this data, team members believe Gliese 12 b is an "evil twin," more like Venus than Earth. But they cannot rule out the possibility that Gliese 12 b is a "twin Earth" with liquid water on its surface. Further observations will determine whether Gliese 12 b is an "evil twin" or an "Earth twin". Either way, studies of Gliese 12 b will give us a better idea of the prerequisites for the emergence of a life-friendly environment on a planet.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
