Newly Discovered Earth-like Exoplanet May Hold Potential for Life
www.discovermagazine.com
Almost 30 years after the first planet outside our solar system was discovered, more than 7,000 other exoplanets have been identified. Now, its time to add another to the list.A team of researchers have confirmed an Earth-like planet named HD 20794 d, they report in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. The exoplanet is especially interesting to astronomers because at a mere 19.7 light-years away, its practically a neighbor. HD 20794 d, the star around which the newly identified planet rotates is not an ordinary star, Xavier Dumusque, an astronomer at the University of Geneva and co-author of the study, said in a press release. Its luminosity and proximity makes it an ideal candidate for future telescopes whose mission will be to observe the atmospheres of exoplanets directly.The Promise of WaterThe position of the planet in relation to that star also provides the possibility that it could hold water. So astronauts searching for signs of life beyond Earth are especially interested in it.HD 20794 d orbits its host star in 647 days. Although thats almost twice as long as an Earth year, its only 40 days less than Mars needs to circle our Sun. Unlike Earth and Mars, HD 20794 ds orbit is more elliptical than circular. That orbital pattern is especially interesting to astronomers, because if the planet contains water, it would likely be liquid during its closest passages to the sun, and ice when its farthest away.The Search for LifeFinding this particular exoplanet was no easy task; it required more work than just pointing one telescope to the sky and noticing the novel celestial body. Instead, it required analyzing more than 20 years of data from several instruments, then using an algorithm to filter out waves coming from other sources.We analyzed the data for years, carefully eliminating sources of contamination," Michael Cretignier, a research fellow at Oxford University and a co-author of the paper, said in a press release. The exoplanets size, proximity to Earth, and potential to hold water makes it a prime candidate to search for life, as well as testing hypothesis about conditions that could support it. New instruments, like the European Southern Observatorys Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), will hasten that search when they come online. Until then, the search for more exoplanets will continue. Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Astronomy and Astrophysics. Revisiting the multi-planetary system of the nearby star HD 20794Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.
0 Commenti ·0 condivisioni ·75 Views