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Earth’s far-off ‘cousin’ could support life
ASTRONOMERS have identified a rocky planet 500 light years away that could have liquid water on its surface.
Kepler-186f was discovered using NASA’s Kepler telescope, which scanned the Milky Way for Earth-sized planets with the potential to support life.
Kepler-186f is the fifth and outermost planet found orbiting around the dwarf star Kepler-186, 500 light years (roughly 4828 trillion kilometres) from Earth. It lies in the star’s “habitable zone”, at the right distance for it to harbour liquid water and so, potentially, life.
Stephen Kane, of San Francisco State University, a co-author of the paper in the journal Science, said: “Some people call these habitable planets, but we have no idea if they are.
“We simply know they are in the habitable zone, and that is the best place to start looking for habitable planets.”
Kepler-186f was discovered by the transit method, which detects the temporary dimming of the star’s brightness as the planet passes in front of it. It is slightly bigger than Earth, but is in orbit around a smaller star, so is not an exact analog for our own planet.
Elisa Quintana, of the NASA Ames Centre, in California, and lead author, said: “We consider this planet more of an Earth cousin than an Earth twin.”
The planet’s size influences the strength of its gravitational pull and its ability to pull in gases to create an atmosphere. Scientists estimate that Kepler-186f's size means there is a chance that it could have a thick hydrogen and helium envelope.
Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian
ASTRONOMERS have identified a rocky planet 500 light years away that could have liquid water on its surface.
Kepler-186f was discovered using NASA’s Kepler telescope, which scanned the Milky Way for Earth-sized planets with the potential to support life.
Kepler-186f is the fifth and outermost planet found orbiting around the dwarf star Kepler-186, 500 light years (roughly 4828 trillion kilometres) from Earth. It lies in the star’s “habitable zone”, at the right distance for it to harbour liquid water and so, potentially, life.
Stephen Kane, of San Francisco State University, a co-author of the paper in the journal Science, said: “Some people call these habitable planets, but we have no idea if they are.
“We simply know they are in the habitable zone, and that is the best place to start looking for habitable planets.”
Kepler-186f was discovered by the transit method, which detects the temporary dimming of the star’s brightness as the planet passes in front of it. It is slightly bigger than Earth, but is in orbit around a smaller star, so is not an exact analog for our own planet.
Elisa Quintana, of the NASA Ames Centre, in California, and lead author, said: “We consider this planet more of an Earth cousin than an Earth twin.”
The planet’s size influences the strength of its gravitational pull and its ability to pull in gases to create an atmosphere. Scientists estimate that Kepler-186f's size means there is a chance that it could have a thick hydrogen and helium envelope.
Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian
