An Intriguing Earth-like Planet Discovered by Astronomers

An Intriguing Earth-like Planet Discovered by Astronomers

By E. Stanley Ukeni

A scientific study that was just published by a prestigious Astronomical Journal reveals that a team of European research astronomers have made a tantalizing discovery that holds the promise of significantly improving the chances of discovering another planet that is capable of sustaining life. I found this discovery so profoundly awesome that I decided to write about it.

The published finding indicates the European scientists, using the ESO’s 2.2m MPG telescope detected what is believed to be the most Earth-like planet ever to be found by scientists anywhere in the world. The exoplanet called, Gliese 1132 B—or GJ 1132b for short, orbits a red dwarf star in the Vela Constellation, which puts it far outside our solar system.  

Well, if you are thinking of taking a vacation to this pristine virgin nature –frontier, you may have to wait a bit longer to book your flight. This is because it would take approximately 39 light years to reach the super Earth-like planet from Earth—a pretty long flight if I may add. Although the newly discovered planet is 1.2 times larger than our planet, it is thought to have similar topography as Earth.

The findings by the team of astronomers indicate that this unique exoplanet has an atmosphere that is rich in water and methane. This is probably the first planet to be discovered to have an atmosphere, outside of Earth. This recently published discovery is intriguing because a planet with an atmosphere similar to Earth is generally viewed by scientists as an indicator that it has the requisite conditions for some form of organic, or perhaps even sentient, life to evolve and thrive. You have to agree that this is pretty exciting.

Why is this that interest…? Some may ask. Well, for starters, identifying and analyzing the atmospheres of planets elsewhere in our Galaxy, or perhaps even the Universe, is an essential factor in the search for extraterrestrial alien life in elsewhere in the Universe.   

I am sure that there are a bunch of skeptics out there who are reading this and thinking to themselves, ‘this is all nonsense…how are these people even able to see that far into space to observe what a planet that far away from Earth looks like’.   

I think it’s reasonable to question. And to be fair to doubters, the process of dictating distant planets and deciphering their make-up with current telescopes is quite a daunting task. So, I think it makes sense to kind of explore how the team of scientist was able to accomplish this remarkable feat.

With the aid of the MPG/ESO telescope—a 2.2 meter ground-based telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in La Silla, Chile, the team of European astronomical researchers discovered and observed the exoplanet, Gliese 1132 B, as it orbited a red dwarf Sun in the Vela Constellation of space. After an extensive period of observing it pass in front of the dwarf star, every 1.6 days—blocking some of the red dwarf Sun’s light as it passed, the researchers probably found an anomaly in the way the planet absorbed some of its sun’s light as it orbited in front of it.

Perhaps, in a bid to understand this anomaly, they observed the planet using seven different wavelengths. In one of the infrared wavelengths, the planet appeared larger. This indicated to the team of astronomers that the planet has a measurable atmosphere that is opaque to that particular wavelength, but transparent in the others. Interestingly, the wavelength at which the planet was opaque indicates the presence of water.

The scientists then simulated several different computer models of atmospheric conditions to find one that best matched their observations. The matching computer model suggested that the atmosphere of Gliese 1132 B is rich in a combination of water and methane.

Once again, you shouldn’t start making holiday plans to Gliese 1132 B just yet. One of the working hypotheses being advanced by the scientific observes is that the planet is plausibly covered with water, with a hot, steamy atmosphere.  I’m sorry to put a damper on your holiday plans to this exotic new world.

In part, due to the limitations of the telescope being used for this discovery, the research finding does not indicate the presence of life on this tantalizing new planet. Although all indications suggests that this planet is not habitable, it does in fact give us hope to believe that there are possibly many more Earth-like planet out there with atmosphere, especially since red dwarf Suns are the most abundant type of Stars in the Universe.

Authored by E. Stanley Ukeni, © 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material and other articles or stories posted on this blog site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed, in whole or in part, without prior expressed written permission from the author, E. Stanley Ukeni.

Photo credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

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