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The discovery
Astronomers have discovered a planet beyond our solar system with an Earth-like mass that may be habitable. A team discovered researchers led by Diana Kossakowski of the German Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (Mpia) in Heidelberg, who published it in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Where it is located
The Earth-mass exoplanet orbits a red dwarf named Wolf 1069 in Swan (constellation), just 31 light-years from Earth. Known as Wolf 1069 b, the planet is estimated to be about the same size as Earth and also about the same mass.
How it stands out
This planet has an orbit that lasts about 15 days. So it is very close to its star, the red dwarf Wolf 1069, but it receives only about 65% of Earth’s energy from the Sun. This is because the red dwarf is much fainter and colder than our Sun: the calculated average temperature for the planet is about -23 degrees, indicating that it is a rocky body.
It could be habitable
Based on its distance from us, the new planet is in sixth place among potentially habitable Earth. Thanks to the Carmenes project, active since 2016 and using the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain, it was determined. It could be habitable. However, it has a face that is always illuminated and a face that is always dark, just like the Moon. In addition, if it also had an atmosphere, the study’s authors estimated that the temperature could rise to 13 degrees so that liquid water is present in a wide area of the part facing the star.
It will be the subject of further study.
Earth’s new doppelganger then becomes a promising candidate for further research.
- source: StyleMania.it/picture: Image by Yuri from Pixabay
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