Deutsche Welle, 8 November 2012
British and
German astronomers have discovered a new planet which could support life. But
the planet is light years away, and what its discovery means for us is unclear.
A team of
astronomers from Germany and Britain have discovered a new planet, which has
the potential to be habitable.
The planet
dubbed "HD 40307" is located about 44 light years away in the
Goldilocks Zone of a sun - an area around a sun or star, where water can exist
without evaporating due to heat, according to University of Göttingen
astrophysics, Guillem Anglada-Escudé.
Scientists
call the Goldilocks Zone the liquid water habitable zone. It is neither too hot
nor cold, just like the porridge in "Goldilocks and the three bears."
"What
we know is that the temperature on the surface would be like the temperature we
have on Earth because it's the right distance from the star," says
Anglada-Escudé.
More
research to come
From Earth,
the researchers were able to determine the possible temperature of the planet
based on the brightness of the sun it orbits.
"The
estimated mean temperature of HD 40307 is around nine degrees (Celcius), which
means that you can have up to 30 or down to -10 degrees, as on Earth,"
Anglada-Escudé says.
 |
| Jupiter is a gas planet, making it inhospitable to life - much like a lot of exoplanets |
The
recently discovered HD 40307 is now ranked fourth in a list of potentially
habitable planets by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of
Puerto Rico.
But its
ranking could change depending on further data that Anglada-Escudé and his
fellow researchers collect.
At this
time, more research needs to be done on the planet's atmosphere to see whether
it contains biomarkers - gases like oxygen, carbon dioxide and methane, which
would prove there is life on the planet.
Light years
away
Planet is
HD 40307 is 42.36 light years away from Earth - it would take an object
traveling at the speed of light 42.36 years to reach the planet.
Currently,
we can break the sound barrier, but even super sonic speed just doesn't cut it.
It's impossible for us to gather any conclusive data on the ground.
"As
long as we have systems like rockets today, [this discovery] is not that
useful," says Ulrich Köhler at Germany's Institute of Planetary Research
(DLR).
But Köhler
believes the research addresses "a fundamental question" about the
existence of life in the universe.
 |
| Earth belongs to our Solar System, which is part of a galaxy called the Milky Way |
The search
for exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) became more significant in
the late 90s - the first exoplanet was discovered in 1996.
Since then,
around 800 exoplanets have been discovered.
And most of
them are similar to gas planets like Jupiter, making them inhabitable.
The
Planetary Habitability Laboratory lists up to 27 potentially habitable planets
on which life remains unconfirmed.
The
question is whether such knowledge is of any benefit to us down on Earth.
"The
issue is very touchy because you can awaken expectations in the public,"
says Köhler, suggesting such expectations are unrealistic.
But the
University of Göttingen's Anglada-Escudé is more optimistic.
"Who
knows what technology will give us by the end of the century?" he asks.
So, we may
well be able to travel to HD 40307 in about a hundred years.
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