Another habitable exoplanet discovered 16 light years away
Another habitable exoplanet discovered 16 light years away
If earth ever became inhabitable, it is good to know that there are some exoplanets which offer the hope of sustaining life. In an interesting scientific discovery, scientists have found a potentially habitable planet located at the distance of 16 light years away. This is one of the top 3 most habitable earth-like exoplanets found in recent times.
The super earth planet called GJ 832 has taken 16 days to orbit a red dwarf star which has a mass of at least 5 times that of earth. International researchers have also discovered that the planet received about the same average stellar energy as our planet. This is because red dwarfs shine more dimly than the sun. This planet also may have similar temperatures in the planet.
This is the reason why it is among the top 3 most earth-like planets as per the Earth Similarity Index developed by researchers at Acrecibo's University of Puerto Rica. The scientific research team is led by Dr. Robert Wittenmyer at the University of New South Wales School of Physics. The findings have been reported in the Astrophysical Journal.
Team member and head of UNSW's Exoplanetary Science research group Professor Chris Tinney has indicated that due to the possibility that similar atmosphere might exist on Earth, survivability of life could occur even if seasonal shifts are extreme.
Given the massive mass of the planet, there is a possibility that a huge atmosphere may make the planet difficult to inhabit. A denser atmosphere will help to trap the heat and make it like super-Venus which has too high a temperature to sustain life.
The planet's discovery was aided from its gravitational pull on the parent star that causes the star to wobble to a slight degree. The members of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search team observed this planet through the Anglo-Australian Telescope.
The data obtained by this team was combined with observations from the 6.5m Magellan Telescope and the European Southern Observatory 3.6m telescope, both of which were located in Chile for this new discovery. On the Earth Similarity Index or ESI has ranked exoplanet Gliese 667Cc that is approximately 23 light years away as the most habitable planet on earth.
It has an ESI of around 0.84 compared to the maximum score of 1.0 obtained by earth. The next highly ranked exoplanet is Kepler-62 e that has an ESI of 0.83 and is 1,200 light years awat. The newest exoplanet to be ranked the third most habitable is 16 light years away with an ESI of 0.81.
This exoplanet was discovered by Robert A. Wittenbyer from the University of New South Wales Australia. The planet has earth-like temperatures with large seasonal shifts. The solar system of Gliese is also a cold Jupiter-like planet which has an inner potentially like earth.
