A New Study Exoplanet Ross 128b Might have Temperate Climate
Exoplanet Ross 128b is 11 light-years away from Earth and might be able to support life.
Diogo Souto of Brazil’s Observatório Nacional and his team of researchers used Sloan Digital Sky Survey’s APOGEE spectroscopic instrument to find how this planet might be suitable for us to live in:
- Iron levels similar to the Sun
- The exoplanet’s core is larger than the Earth’s
- As rocky as Earth
- has a temperate climate of around 70 degrees – roughly the average temperature of Los Angeles.
The exoplanet formed from the star’s protoplanetary disc had more to find out about, and the information above facilitate it.
“Until recently, it was difficult to obtain detailed chemical abundances for this kind of star,” Souto affirmed in a statement.
Researchers opinions:
“Knowing a planet’s mass and the radius is important to understanding what it’s made of because these two measurements can be used to calculate its bulk density.”
“What’s more, when quantifying planets in this way, astronomers have realized that planets with radii greater than about 1.7 times Earth’s are likely surrounded by a gassy envelope, like Neptune, and those with smaller radii are likely to be more-rocky, as is our home planet.”
“It’s exciting what we can learn about another planet by determining what the light from its host star tells us about the system’s chemistry. Although Ross 128 b is not Earth’s twin, and there is still much we don’t know about its potential geologic activity, we were able to strengthen the argument that it’s a temperate planet that could potentially have liquid water on its surface.” Said Souto
In other words, we are at least one step closer to inaugurate a new Earth, and in case Earth will crash, we will not die.
As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.
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