Goldilocks Zone: 8 New Planets on the Horizon, Possibly Fit for Human Life
Goldilocks Zone: 8 New Planets on the Horizon, Possibly Fit for Human Life
Finding a planet which is the right fit for human life in the universe may be easier than previously thought. Scientists have discovered 8 more exoplanets within the so-called Goldilocks or habitable zone and the quest for finding or sustaining human life on other planets has just gotten interesting.
8 New Discoveries, 1000 Exoplanets
The newly discovered exoplanets hold an exciting possibility of being capable of supporting life. Kepler Space Telescope has discovered these planets pushing the total number of exoplanets to more than 1,000.
Scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics/CfA are hopeful that the new discoveries could hold the key to the age old question of whether human life can be sustained on other planets.
Not Too Far From The Stars
These exoplanets are just the right distance from the star so that they may have water instead of ice or steam on their surface. The planes are also of the right size and they receive a good amount of sunlight needed for sustaining life. They could also have the right kinds of surface to be able to sustain human life.
"Most of these planets have a good chance of being rocky, like Earth," lead author Guillermo Torres of this study has been quoted as saying. "We don't know for sure whether any of the planets in our sample are truly habitable," second author David Kipping of the CfA says, adding "All we can say is that they're promising candidates.” Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b are most similar to Earth than any other known exoplanets so far.
Far Beyond Human Reach
Even if the exoplanets were habitable however, they will remain impossible to visit for now. Christine Pulliam of the Harvard Smithsonian CfA has said teams are still far removed from being able to examine the exoplanets deeper, let alone visiting them. Kepler-438b is 470 light years away and Kepler-442b, 1,100 light years, as per the latest estimates. "That's a little far away," Caldwell was quoted as saying "We need to get to Mars first.”
A Second Earth
It is exciting to discover and come closer to identifying a “second”earth. A panel held in 2014 at NASA has proved prophetic as scientists had said they were "very close in terms of technology and science to actually finding the other Earth.”
But this a prediction based solely on facts. After all, the Kepler telescope is a powerful probe launched in 2009, capable of finding planets by checking out fluctuations in the brightness of a star as the planet transits, or crosses right in front of the star.
Looking for the Right Fit
Pulliam said that scientists monitored data of close to 160,000 stars leading them to 8 new planets. Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b both orbit the red dwarf stars that are cooler as well as smaller than the sun of the earth.
Kepler-438b has a diameter which is close to 12% bigger than earth and has a 70% chance of having a rocky surface. The surface of the planet appears to be like earth. One third larger than earth, Kepler-442b has a 60% chance of being rock covered. Scientists have estimated that there is a 97% chance of these being in the habitable zone though the estimates are not 100% certain.
To be considered habitable, exoplanets must orbit within a distance of the stars in which liquid water can prevail on the surface of the planet, making them recipients of abundant sunshine. Kepler-438b circles a star every 35 days while Kepler-442b complete an orbit once in 112 days.
"For our calculations we chose to adopt the broadest possible limits that can plausibly lead to suitable conditions for life," says Torres from CfA. Kepler-438b received as much as 40% light more than earth. This is comparable given Venus receives twice as much sun radiation as earth. Kepler-438b has a 70% chance of being within the habitable zone of the star.
Kepler-442b receives around two thirds much light as earth. The two most likely planets for sustaining life close to earth were Kepler-186f and Kepler-62f. While the former is 1.1 times the size of earth and receives around 32% more solar radiation, Kepler-62f is 1.4 times the size of earth and receives as much as 41% of the light.
Planetary candidates were first identified by NASA’s Kepler mission. While the planets were too small to confirm through measurement of their masses, the team validated these through a computer program called BLENDER.
About BLENDER
BLENDER is a computer program which is used to determine if the exoplanets are statistically more like other planets that are habitable. This computer program was developed by Torres and Fressin and run on the NASA Ames Pleaides supercomputer. This method has been used to study more about the most massive discoveries made by Kepler including the first exoplanet smaller than Mercury.
The BLENDER Analysis was followed by observations in the form of higher resolution spectroscopy as well as adaptive optics imaging and speckle interferometry for characterising the systems. Follow up observations also showed that 4 of the recently discovered planets are located within multiple star systems. Now the challenge is to find out more about these exoplanets within the Goldilocks range and see which is the right fit.
Conclusion
Man has developed sophisticated scientific technology for exploring if planets around earth too could be capable of sustaining human life. There is considerable hard-work required in ascertaining the extent to which exoplanets can be the right type for sustaining a human/humanoid civilisation. But the scientists are more than up to the challenge. With advancement in technology and scientific know how, it is possible to understand even the existence of humanity and the possibility of life on other planets in concrete terms.
