A team of planet-hunting scientists say they’ve discovered a planet 20 light years from earth that could be the most earth-like body ever found.
Astronomers may have found the most Earth-like alien planet to date, and it’s located only a short distance away, cosmically speaking. The team says that the
planet’s proximity to its sun, coupled with the ease with which it was detected, suggests that the galaxy could be teeming with habitable worlds.
Most of the 500 or so planets astronomers have found orbiting other stars have fallen into the gas-giant class: very large worlds, some much bigger than Jupiter, that can’t support life, because they lack solid surfaces, and because they orbit either too far from or much too close to their suns. The few rocky worlds discovered so far also orbit too near or far from stars to fall into what planetary scientists call the “habitable zone,” in which liquid water—and therefore life—could exist.A team of planet hunters led by astronomers at the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution of Washington has announced the discovery of a planet (Gliese 581-G ) orbiting a nearby star, Gliese 581, at a distance that places it squarely in the middle of the star's "habitable zone." This would be the most Earth-like exoplanet and the first truly habitable one yet discovered. The research was supported by grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation. "Goldilocks" refers to an exoplanet whose temperatures are "not too cold, not too hot, but just right" to maintain water and support Earth-like life.
Share This Story to Your Friends ---
No comments:
Post a Comment