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A new article published in Astrophysical Journal Letters reveals that astronomers have found a new world around a distant star. Kepler-1649c, a planet only 6% larger than Earth, orbits its star’s “habitable zone”. The planet has characteristics similar to Earth in terms of size and temperature.
The data comes from the Kepler / K2 space telescope, which has observed nearly 200,000 stars over four years. Their mission was to calculate how many stars in the Milky Way galaxy have Earth-sized planets in their habitable zone. The mission ended definitively in 2018, after several years of technical problems, but these data come from the period prior to 2013. The interpretation of the data has now ended, and the astronomers’ conclusions, presented in Astrophysical Journal Letters, shows that the planet Kepler-1649c is more similar to Earth.
“In terms of size and likely temperature, this is the most Earth-like planet Kepler has ever encountered,” said co-author Jeff Coughlin of the SETI Institute. “It is incredible for me to have found it now, seven years after the data collection.”
How far is the “new Earth”?
The new world is 302 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. The planet orbits an M-type star that is not visible from Earth, called Kepler-1649. An M-type star is a low-mass star, also known as a “red dwarf,” which are by far the most common stars found in the Milky Way. Although the orbiting star is much smaller than our Sun, it receives about 75% of Earth’s sunlight. Kepler-1649c is 1.06 times larger than Earth and orbits its star every 19.5 days, according to the new document.
“This intriguing and distant world gives us even greater hope that a second Earth is among the stars, waiting to be found,” said Thomas Zurbuchen of the NASA Department of Science.
While there are other exoplanets closer to Earth in size (like TRAPPIST-1f or Teegarden c) or temperature (TRAPPIST-1d and TOI 700d), there is no other planet that is considered similar to Earth in terms of temperature or temperature. and in size and being in the habitable zone of your solar system.
The atmosphere of the planet Kepler-1649c is not yet known, which could affect the temperature. Even the size of the planet has a margin of error. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has the potential to examine the atmosphere of exoplanets like the Kepler-1649c to see if it could actually harbor life.
Publisher: Robert Kiss
