Australian astronomers have discovered the nearest planet that has the potential to support life. The planet, whose mass is 4 times greater than Earth's, is one of three planets that the team members discovered orbiting the red dwarf Wolf 1062, which is only 14 light-years from Earth.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales have discovered the closest planet with the potential for life to date - orbiting a star 14 light-years away.
The planet, which has a mass four times that of Earth, is one of three planets the team discovered orbiting the red dwarf known as Wolf 4.
"This is particularly interesting because all three planets have an extremely low mass that allows them to be rocky and contain solid surfaces. The middle planet Wolf 1061c is within the "golden zone" or life zone - where water may be kept in a liquid state and the planet may even support life." That's what the lead researcher Dr. Duncan Wright from the University of New South Wales says.
"It's fascinating to look into the depths of space and think that a star is so close to us, since on a cosmic scale - it is surrounded by a life-bearing planet."
"Planets have already been discovered on some of the stars closest to us, in which there are even more grooves than Wolf 1061, but these planets are not capable of supporting life."
The three newly discovered planets orbit a small, cold and stable star in orbits of 5,18, 67 and 1.4 days. Their masses are 4.3, 5.2 and XNUMX earth masses respectively. The largest, outermost planet of the three is outside the habitable zone boundary, and may also be rocky, while the smaller, innermost planet is too close to the star to support life. The discovery will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The researchers observed the star Wolf 1061 using the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.5-meter diameter telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile. "Our team has developed new techniques that improve the ability to analyze the data from the precise instrument built especially for planet hunting, and we have gone through observations made over a decade of Wolf 1061" says Prof. Chris Tinney, head of the scientific instrumentation team in the research group.
"The three planets just around the corner join a small but growing group of rocky worlds orbiting nearby stars cooler than the Sun."
Rocky planets like ours seem to be common in the galaxy, and multi-planet systems are also common. However, most of the rocky planets discovered so far are hundreds or thousands of light years away from us. One exception is Gliese 667Cc which is 22 light years from Earth. It orbits a red dwarf in an orbit that took 28 days and was 4.5 times that of Earth.
The relative proximity of the planets orbiting Wof 1061 to us provides an opportunity to observe them if and when they pass in front of the star. If they do so, it may be possible to study the composition of their atmospheres in the future and see if they will be suitable for life" says Dr. Rob Weitenmeier, another member of the team.
Link to the video of the simulation showing the configuration of the tracks of the Wolf 1061 system.
to the notice of the researchers
More of the topic in Hayadan:
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How long will it take to get there?
Search here on the website "how long will it take to reach the nearest star"
Take the answers and multiply by 3.3
For 14 light years you will receive
Moving pigeons, about 270 thousand years
Gravitational assistance, 63 thousand years
Nuclear propulsion, 280 years
In short, take a friend, beer and some crackers with you, leave work early, tell your wife you're a little late tonight, and give a little jump there.
How long will it take to get there?
Although it is in the zone of life, it is very close to its sun and it is hard to believe that there will really be life on it. Does anyone know what the ESI index is?
The article is interesting by the way.
Leosie,
It is true that there are many factors to create life as we know it. I'm not sure about each of the factors you mentioned, but it's very possible that they all don't have to exist together. For example, you mentioned the conditions on the sun, and also the existence of internal heat in the planet. Today it is known about entire ecosystems at the bottom of the oceans, that sunlight does not reach, but they thrive thanks to volcanic vents that emit chemicals that are digested by bacteria, and the bacteria are food for tube worms, and the crabs eat the worms and so on...
Therefore some believe that it is possible that internal heat from within the planet could be the basis for life, even when the star is far from the sun. Such a possibility exists in our solar system, in Jupiter's moon Europa, and in Saturn's moon Enceladus, all the data show that oceans are probably hidden under their ice cover, and who knows, maybe ecosystems similar to those at the bottom of the oceans. Who knows if there aren't similar ecosystems in other solar systems.
In addition, there is also the possibility of life that is not based on the form of life that we know, but these are still less well-founded hypotheses, for example: life based on silicon instead of carbon, or on liquid methane instead of liquid water (as methane lakes exist on Saturn's moon Titan).
There is now a fascinating series about the universe on Channel 47 in Hot. And there is the new Cosmos series. From what you can see, the development of life on Earth is a "coincidence" of a very large cluster of conditions without which any life, not only organic, would not have developed, and in addition, Earth's time is limited.
Size, distance from the sun, the ferocity of solar storms - also how fast the sun rotates around itself, non-collision with a large star, the existence of a cold enough lava, the existence of a magnetic field that shields radiation = the existence of iron in the core + a fast rotation that is not stopped by a collision with a star Another, the existence of an internal heat source (radioactive materials) that greatly extends the age of the star and allows billions of years for life to form, perhaps: the arrival of spores with DNA from other stars, the existence of water and preventing its evaporation by too much heat, the existence of an atmosphere and its non-evaporation due to a million factors, more and more. On Earth, enough factors have temporarily gathered to allow life to exist. Where I sailed: the mass of a star and the distance from the sun are not enough to create life.