A 'Potentially Habitable' New Planet Has Been Found
Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable new planet that is around 146 light-years away and is actually remarkably similar to Earth with just one stark difference: it could be colder than Mars, which is perpetually frozen.
In their continued mining of data from the now-retired Kepler Space Telescope, scientist have found a possible rocky planet that is about 6% larger than Earth and also orbits a Sun-like star.
On their website, NASA says: “Planets orbiting other stars are known as “exoplanets.” And this could turn out to be the first exoplanet with Earth-like properties that, from our vantage point, crosses the face of a Sun-like star that is near enough and bright enough for meaningful follow-up observations.”
Planet HD 137010 b: what we know so far
The potential planet, which has been named Planet HD 137010 b, isn’t actually confirmed yet. It is currently in the ‘candidate’ stage and following further observations, may be promoted to ‘confirmed’.
At the moment, it seems that the planet is frozen over. However, NASA shares: “Despite the possibility of a frigid climate, HD 137010 b also could turn out to be a temperate or even a watery world,” say the authors of the paper on this exoplanet. It would just need an atmosphere richer in carbon dioxide than our own.
“The science team, based on modelling of the planet’s possible atmospheres, gives it a 40% chance of falling within the “conservative” habitable zone around the star, and a 51% chance of falling within the broader “optimistic” habitable zone. On the other hand, the authors of the study say the planet has about a 50-50 chance of falling beyond the habitable zone entirely.”
Cautiously optimistic, maybe...
It may be a while before Planet HD 137010 b is confirmed
While this is definitely exciting news, we are a long way from having a confirmed planet.
NASA explains: “Exoplanet scientists use a variety of techniques to identify planets, and this discovery comes from a single ‘transit’ — only one instance of the planet crossing its star’s face in a kind of miniature eclipse — detected during Kepler’s second mission, known as K2. Even with just one transit, the study’s authors were able to estimate the candidate planet’s orbital period.
“They tracked the time it took for the planet’s shadow to move across the star’s face — in this case 10 hours, while Earth takes about 13 — then compared it to orbital models of the system itself.”
However, capturing more transits will be difficult as the planet’s orbital distance is similar to Earth’s, meaning these ‘transits’ take longer than they do for other planets.
While NASA hopes that confirmation could come from observation by the successor to Kepler/K2, NASA’s TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), the still-functioning workhorse for planetary detection, or from the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite), we “might have to wait for the next generation of space telescopes”.
Here’s hoping we learn more soon.