Scientists Have Discovered A Planet That Might Be A "Scaled-Up Version Of Earth"

Researchers have witness that a top-notch - Earth in the habitable zone of its star might be a larger reading of our own planet .

Theresearch , published in the journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics , was led by scientist from the University of Toronto . The planet is know as K2 - 18b , and it ’s site 111 light - years from Earth around a red dwarf star phone K2 - 18 .

It was first identify back in 2015 when scientist found that it was orbiting every 33 days in the wiz ’s habitable zone , which means it could have liquid urine . It was feel via the transit method acting , witness the fall in the star ’s light as the planet passed in front of it .

Now , using the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher ( HARPS ) on the European Southern Observatory ’s La Silla Observatory in Chile , the squad was able to go out the radius and mass of the satellite .

They found that the planet has about 8 sentence the mass of Earth and is about 2.3 time handsome . This establish it a density that suggests it ’s either a rocky major planet with a gaseous atmosphere , or an ocean major planet with an gelid shell . They do n’t know for trusted at the moment , but hope that future telescopes will provide an answer .

“ With the current data , we ca n’t distinguish between those two possibilities , ” Ryan Cloutier , the field of study ’s track generator , said in astatement . “ But with the James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) we can probe the atmosphere and see whether it has an all-embracing atmosphere or it ’s a planet cover in water system . ”

The financial statement lend that “ K2 - 18b could well be a scale - up version of Earth . ”

In their paper , the researchers note this system is one of the best for further study , as this red dwarf wiz is the second vivid with a transit planet known , behindLHS 1140b .

“ Because of the brightness level of its legion superstar and the grim bulk compactness of K2 - 18b , the system propose a unique chance to study super - Earth atmospheres have dry land - like insolation in the JWST - era , ” the researchers pen .

This was n’t the only exciting discovery they made , either . They also discovered a 2d planet in the organisation , dub K2 - 18c . It ’s also thought to be a first-rate - Earth , but orbits the star in just nine days . Being much closer , it ’s likely to be hot and not habitable .

But it ’s exciting nonetheless . And this system goes to show just how exciting the era of exoplanet astronomy is live to be , as we study worlds like and unlike our own .