Astronomers Found Planet That Could Suit Human Life

Bright Side

Astronomers have just found a planet that might be perfect for human life! It’s in the “Goldilocks zone,” meaning it’s not too hot or too cold—just right for liquid water. Scientists believe this planet could have an atmosphere, oceans, and maybe even life already. It’s way out in space, but with new technology, we might learn more about it soon. Imagine a future where humans could travel there and start a new home among the stars! For now, all we can do is keep exploring and dreaming about what’s out there.  Credit:  CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: Planet orbiting a red star: by ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Planet_orbiting_a_red_dwarf_star_(artist%27s_impression).webm planetary system: by ESO/L. Calçada, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_of_the_planetary_system_around_Sun-like_star_HD_10180.ogv HARPS spectrograph: by ESO, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_HARPS_spectrograph.jpg Paranal: by ESO/J. Colosimo, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morning_observations_time-lapse_at_Paranal.webm Habitable Zone: by ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Habitable_Zone_(artist’s_impression).webm ESPRESSO: by European Southern Observatory, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ESPRESSO_takes_shape_(36566865232).jpg, https://flic.kr/p/XHhK4E light to ESPRESSO: by ESO/L. Calçada, https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1806b/ James Webb Orbit: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13553#media_group_320747 TESS Primary Mission: by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13663#media_group_319331 BENNU’S JOURNEY: by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12034#media_group_336038 Animation is created by Bright Side. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00Look at this fascinating planet.

00:03It looks as if it's burning.

00:05It must be hotter on its surface than in the middle of Death Valley.

00:09The ground is parched, cut by giant cracks.

00:13There's not a drop of water in this boiling world.

00:17Now it's the same planet, but it looks like a totally different place.

00:22Everything is frozen.

00:23The temperatures are so low, there isn't even a tiniest chance that life could survive

00:27on this planet.

00:30This bizarre world is called HD 20794 d, and it's located 19.7 light-years away from Earth,

00:38in the constellation Eridanus.

00:41This planet is a super-Earth.

00:43This term means that it is larger than Earth, but smaller than such ice giants as Neptune.

00:50What makes this planet especially interesting is its unusual orbit, which moves it in and

00:55out of its star's habitable zone.

00:57The region where temperatures might allow liquid water to exist.

01:02Now we haven't seen this unusual planet directly.

01:06Astronomers detected it by measuring tiny wobbles in its star using two powerful instruments,

01:11ESPRESSO and HARPS, located at telescopes in Chile.

01:17These instruments measure radial velocity, which is the small movement a star makes as

01:22a planet's gravity tugs on it.

01:24The larger the wobble, the more massive the planet.

01:28Later, astronomers analyzed the data and figured out that the planet in question has a mass

01:33around six times greater than Earth's.

01:36It orbits a star, which is slightly smaller and dimmer than our sun.

01:42What makes this star unique is that it is bright enough to be seen with the unaided

01:46eye, unlike many other stars that host exoplanets.

01:50You won't be able to see them without a telescope.

01:53The star system has been observed for over 20 years.

01:57Astronomers have long suspected it had multiple planets.

02:01In 2011, scientists discovered two other super-Earths orbiting the star every 18.3 and 89.6 days

02:10respectively.

02:12For some time, researchers thought they had found a third planet with an orbital period

02:17of 40 days.

02:18Later, they realized they had made a mistake.

02:22More recently, after reanalyzing years of data, astronomers have confirmed that the

02:27third planet does exist, and it's our extreme HD 20794d.

02:34A researcher from the University of Oxford played a key role in identifying the planet.

02:41He used a special computer algorithm called Yorara to separate the planet's weak signal

02:46from the background noise.

02:48It helped him confirm that the planet truly existed, and was pretty unique.

02:54Unlike the planets in our solar system, which have mostly circular orbits, the newly discovered

02:59one follows a highly elliptical, stretched-out orbit.

03:03It takes 647 days to complete one trip around its star.

03:08That's just 40 days shorter than Mars' orbit around the Sun.

03:13At its furthest point, the planet is twice the Earth-Sun distance, which makes it an

03:18icy world far outside the habitable zone.

03:22At its closest point, it moves inward to .75 AU, where it enters the habitable zone where

03:28liquid water might exist.

03:31This extreme movement creates truly bizarre seasons.

03:35For some part of its orbit, HD 20794d is frozen like an icy wasteland.

03:42As it approaches its star, temperatures rise and ice likely melts, forming temporary oceans.

03:49The planet then experiences a short, scorching summer.

03:53It is so hot that the water on its surface might evaporate into the atmosphere.

03:59Shortly after, the planet moves away again.

04:02It triggers a gloomy fall with rains, followed by a deep freeze in winter.

04:08In other words, the planet switches between extreme cold and intense heat, which makes

04:13it a very unpredictable place for life.

04:17If any lifeforms exist there, they certainly need to adapt to dramatic changes in temperature

04:22and environment.

04:25Why does the planet follow such a mind-boggling orbit?

04:29It might be a leftover effect from events billions of years ago, when the planetary

04:33system was still forming.

04:36At some point, another large planet may have disturbed the orbit of our extraordinary friend.

04:43Another possible explanation is that a giant planet once existed in the system, and its

04:48gravity pushed HD 20794d into an elongated path.

04:54Later, this giant planet may have been ejected from the system, leaving the smaller planet

04:59in its current orbit.

05:02This theory makes sense because the two other planets in the system, B and C, have more

05:06normal circular orbits.

05:09The discovery of this planet is so exciting because it challenges what we know about habitable

05:15planets.

05:16Most planets in the habitable zone stay there permanently, but HD 20794d only passes through

05:23it.

05:25Scientists want to know if such a planet could still support life, even briefly.

05:30So future telescopes will study the atmosphere of this planet looking for signs of water,

05:35gases, or even life.

05:38Another super-Earth that might have the right conditions for life orbits a star 137 light-years

05:44away.

05:46In space terms, this is considered relatively close.

05:50A light-year is around 6 trillion miles.

05:53The planet is called TOI-715b, and it's about 1.5 times the size of Earth.

06:01Unlike HD 20794d, it's permanently located in the habitable zone.

06:07Look, that's what astronomers think the planet might look like.

06:12TOI-715b orbits its star very quickly, completing a full orbit in just 19 days.

06:20But even though it's close to its star, it may not be extremely hot, all because its

06:26star is a red dwarf.

06:29That's a type of star that is smaller and cooler than our sun.

06:33This means TOI-715b could have a milder temperature compared to other exoplanets that orbit closer

06:41to hotter stars.

06:44NASA discovered the planet using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

06:49This space telescope finds planets by watching for small dips in a star's brightness, which

06:54happen when a planet passes in front of it.

06:58Since red dwarfs are smaller and dimmer than the sun, planets passing in front of them

07:02are easier to detect.

07:06Astronomers are planning to study the planet further using the James Webb Space Telescope.

07:12This powerful telescope, located 1 million miles away from Earth, can analyze the atmospheres

07:18of distant planets.

07:21If TOI-715b has an atmosphere, JWST could help scientists determine what gases are present

07:29in it and whether such conditions could support liquid water or even life.

07:36One more promising world for our search for extraterrestrial life is an extremely dense

07:41super-Earth in the K2-360 system.

07:46An international team of researchers from Japan and Europe has discovered this remarkable

07:51multi-planet system orbiting a sun-like star, located 750 light-years away.

07:58This system has two planets, including one of the densest rocky planets ever found.

08:05The K2-360b is a rocky super-Earth, about 1.6 times the size of Earth but with a mass

08:117.7 times greater.

08:14This makes it as dense as lead.

08:18The planet orbits its star incredibly fast, completing one full orbit in just 21 hours.

08:25It's the densest known ultra-short-period planet with well-measured properties.

08:30As for its sibling, this is a much larger outer planet with at least 15 Earth masses.

08:37It takes 9.8 days to orbit its star.

08:41Sadly, since it does not pass in front of its star from our viewpoint, scientists cannot

08:46determine its exact size.

08:50The unusually dense planet might be the core of a much larger planet.

08:54Over time, intense radiation from its parent star may have blown away its outer layers,

09:00leaving behind only its dense, rocky core.

09:03So, in fact, this planet could show us what might happen to some planets that are too

09:09close to their stars.

09:12Astronomers think that the planet may have moved inward over time due to interactions

09:16with its larger companion planet.

09:19One possibility is high eccentricity migration, where a planet's orbit becomes highly stretched

09:25out due to gravitational interactions before gradually becoming more circular near the

09:30star.

09:32Another theory is that the planet's spin and axial tilt can cause its orbit to become

09:37more circular.

09:39Such planets are rare, and finding one with a massive outer companion can help scientists

09:44refine their theories about how planets form and evolve in extreme environments.

09:50With its help, we might also understand how rocky planets evolve, and what happens to

09:55planets that get too close to their stars.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended