- New Planet Discovered: Exoplanet Glisee 486B 26 light years away
- Combines the properties of planetary environments Earth and Venus
- For the first time the shortest distance is taken for the densest distance Observation of a strange atmosphere Permission
- Researchers say “stroke of luck”
Over the last two and a half decades, astronomers have tracked many exoplanets made of gas, ice, and rock. With the advent of efficient exoplanet hunting facilities, the number of newly discovered worlds outside the solar system increased rapidly into the thousands. Sometimes researchers talked about having found 24 Earth-like planets, on which living conditions are sometimes better than our home planet. The second time a student discovered 17 new planets. But only a few planets are actually Earth-like. And what we really know about them is often based on indirect observations and interpretations. Picturesque representation of mountainous planetary landscape under two suns As they are also shown by NASA, Come from the imagination of the artist rather than hard scientific facts.
Discovery of new planet: a glimpse into a strange environment
Researchers are now reporting again Trifon Trifonov from Max Planck Institute for Astronomy About the discovery of a hot super-Earth orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 486, “only” 26 light years away. The shorter distance for astronomers should enable better observations in the future and tell us what it actually looks like on the planet. Nevertheless, observation at a distance of 26 light years is difficult. Translated to Earth, it is as if you want to observe a pin from the North Pole to the South Pole.
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The planet known as Gliese 486B is so special that despite its short distance from its mother Sun, it can be part of its core atmosphere Is kept. It is therefore particularly suitable for investigating the next generation of space and geo-based telescopes for its gas envelope and its interior.
By combining various observational techniques, astronomers have determined the mass, size, and even mass density of the planets that allow them to infer their internal structure. But these data only allow indirect conclusions to be made about the peculiarity of the planets. The next goal of fully characterizing these Earth-like exoplanets by studying their atmosphere is a very big challenge.
Especially in rocky planets like Earth, such an atmosphere has only a thin layer, if it exists at all. For this reason, many current atmospheric models of rocky planets remain uncontrolled.
Gliese 486B: Mixture of Earth and Venus
Planetary environments must meet certain requirements in order to be seen with the next generation of observatories. At just 26 light years away, the CARMENES consortium (Calar Alto-high-resolution search for M Dwarfs with exoarths with ear-infrared and optical hel shell spectrographs) has now found a planet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 486 And meeting them. The requirements rock planet fully fulfilled. Newly Discovered Planet Name Glisee 486B is a Super Earth with The mass, To Is 2.8 times larger Is like our home planet. He too 30 percent larger than the Earth.
“The proximity of this exoplanet is exciting because we can examine it more closely with powerful telescopes such as the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and the extremely large telescopes of the future,” Trifon Trifonov explains. He is a planetary researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and The lead author of the article that started this search.
If one calculates the average density of the planet by a defined mass and radius, it is found that it has the same structure as Venus and Earth, including a metal core. Whoever likes glyce 486b Charm it looks as though 70 percent strong It is more than what we experience on our housewife.
Gliese 486B orbits its mother star Circular path Inside 1.5 days And in one 2.5 million kilometers. A rotation around its own axis is just long enough that one side is always facing the star. Although the star Gliese 486 is more faint and cold than the Sun, the radiation is so intense that the planet’s surface is at least 700 Kelvin (Approx. 430 ° C). In that sense, the surface of Gliese 486B is more like Venus than Earth, with a hot and dry landscape, shining lava flows. As we know that life from the earth is impossible under these circumstances.
Researcher: “The discovery of Glisee 486B was a god”
Unlike Venus, Glisee 486B may have only a thin atmosphere, if at all. Model calculations may agree with both scenarios, as radiation from the stars can evaporate the atmosphere. At the same time, the gravity of the planet helps to maintain it. It is difficult to determine the balance between these two contributions.