Gliese 12 b could be a great candidate to define habitability on other planets.
A NASA scientific study discovered an Earth-like planet in the constellation of Pisces. With this research, new possibilities were opened to discover the atmosphere of this exoplanet and its habitability.
A study published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters discovered through observations from NASA’s Tess satellite and facilities such as the Cramenes spectrograph at the Calar Alto Observatory (Almería), and MuSCAT2, from the Carlos Sánchez telescope, at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife), a temperate planet similar in size to Earth located in the constellation of Pisces, the largest group of stars in space.
A planet similar to Earth: what are the characteristics of Gliese 12 b?
Astronomers named this planet outside the solar system (exoplanet) Gliese 12 b. It is the closest temperate exoplanet, similar in size to Earth, to date detected. It has a diameter comparable to that of Venus, which is slightly smaller than that of Earth, and its surface temperature is estimated at about 42°C. However, its final temperature will be defined by its capacity to preserve its atmosphere, a topic that is still under investigation.
Gliese 12 b orbits its host star, named Gliese 12, which is a cool red dwarf, every 12.8 days. These are the coldest stars on the main sequence, have a weaker luminosity and take longer to extinguish. This red dwarf is located almost 40 light years from Earth, in the constellation of Pisces and its size is 27% that of the Sun and its surface temperature is 60% solar.
Gliese 12 b compared to Earth.
Research continues: the atmosphere of Gliese 12 b has yet to be defined
The distance that separates Gliese 12 and the exoplanet discovered by the research is only 7% of the distance between the Earth and the sun, so it receives 1.6 times more energy from its star than our planet.
Gliese 12 b represents “one of the best targets to study whether Earth-sized planets orbiting cool stars can retain their atmospheres, a crucial step to advance our understanding of habitability on planets across our galaxy,” says Shishir. Dholakia, astrophysicist at the University of Southern Queensland (Australia).
Gliese 12 b compared to Earth.
This investigation into the atmosphere of transiting Gliese 12 b would allow astronomers to better understand the diversity of atmospheres around temperate Earth-like planets.
