In a galaxy not so very far away... a planet with all the conditions for life
VISITORS would have to get used to the red light, not to mention a new year every ten days.
But if Earth’s problems reach astronomical levels, this newly discovered planet may provide our last hope of survival, a study has revealed.
Scientists say the planet, called Ross 128b, has Earth-like temperatures and may be ‘the closest known comfortable place for life’.
The seven billion-year-old planet was found orbiting a red dwarf star, Ross 128, 11 light-years away. The star, named after the US astronomer Frank Elmore Ross who discovered it, is 20 times dimmer than our own star, the Sun.
But fortunately, as it is 20 times nearer, Ross 128b receives a simi- lar amount of light and warmth. This places it in what astronomers call the ‘Goldilocks zone’ – getting enough sunshine to be ‘ not too hot’ and ‘not too cold’, allowing it to support life.
Ross 128b’s temperature is thought to reach 20C (68F) at its warmest – similar to a good day during a British summer.
I ts coldest temperature is thought to be -60C (-76F). That compares to the coldest figure recorded on Earth, which is -89C (-128F) in Antarctica.
While similar to Earth in terms of surface temperature and size, a year on Ross 128b lasts 9.9 days. This is how long it takes to orbit its star. And the planet would be bathed in an eerie red l i ght, due to the red dwarf star it orbits.
Scientists at the European Southern Observatory in Chile found the planet after 12 years of analysing data from a powerful telescope.
Announcing the discovery yesterday, study leader Dr Xavier Bonfils, of the University of Grenoble in France, said: ‘There wasn’t a “eureka” moment here where we were able to suddenly say, wow, we have a planet. We accumulated data over many years.’
Many red dwarf stars create flares that occasionally bathe their orbiting planets in deadly ultraviolet and X-ray radiation.
But Dr Bonfils told National Geographic magazine it seems that Ross 128 is a ‘quiet’ star, and so its orbiting planet may be the ‘closest known comfortable abode for possible life.’
Telescopes currently under construction should be able to analyse Ross 128b’s atmosphere by the mid 2020s.
Although the planet is in our galaxy, it is much too far away to reach in a hurry. With current rocket technology it would take us about 140,000 years to get there.