EARTH-LIKE PLANET MAY EXIST IN A NEARBY STAR SYSTEM READ MORE NEWS

1:09 AM

Scientists have come across a world similar to planet Earth located in a star system 16 light years away. The star system harbours two other exoplanets. The mysterious world, which is believed to be a similar planet to Earth was detected orbiting star GJ 832, a system with two other exoplanets called Gliese 832b and Gliese 832c. Astronomers spotted the alien world by studying its electromagnetic spectrum, concluding the planet may lie withing the so-called ‘Goldilocks Zone’ where liquid water can exist. The newly discover planet is believed to have a mass of one to 15 times that of Earth. This planet is yet another one found with a high probability that it could be habitable. The star GJ 832 is a red dwarf which has a mass of around half that of our own sun. Researchers believe that the larger od the planets in the system, Gliese 832b has the widest orbit of the exoplanets and is located approximately 3.53 Astronomical units from its star. It is believed to have a mass of around 60 percent the mass of Jupiter. Gliese 832c is considered by astronomers as a Super Earth, with a mass five times larger than that of Earth. It orbits its host star at a distance of 9.16 Astronomical Units. Gliese 832c was discovered in 2014 and researchers believed it to be the most similar planet to Earth ever found, meaning that it might even have Earth-like temperatures and the ideal conditions to life as we know it to develop. However, new studies have shown that the planet was more likely to have a hostile environment eerily similar to Venus, with a thick and toxic atmosphere for humans, according to an article from Discovery. Instead of Gliese 832C, astronomers speculate that there is a third planet located between the two which could be more Earth-like than 832c. Astronomers studied the electromagnetic spectrum of the red dwarf GJ 832 and are attempting to find out exactly what orbits the star. Suman Satyal of the University of Texas at Arlington has been Looking at the starlight spectrum of GJ 832. We obtained several radial velocity curves for varying masses and distances for the middle planet,’ Satyal writes in a paper published by the arXiv pre-print service. The planet which remains unnamed is believed to exist in the star system with an orbit of 0.25 to 2.0 AU from the star with a mass of 1 to 15 Earth masses. Astronomers firmly believe that this Super-Earth is likely to be located within it’s Stars habitable zone where Alien life could exist. ‘We have provided an estimated number of RV observations for the additional planet for further observational verification,’ the researchers said. It is worth mentioning that our planet orbits our sun at a distance of 1 Astronomical Units, which is somewhere in the middle of our stars habitable zone. However, we have to take into consideration that the star GJ 832 is a red dwarf, meaning that it is much more smaller and therefore cooler, which in turn translates into a far more compact habitable zone. In the past, astronomers have regarded Red Dwarfs as key locations for alien life to thrive since they are long-lived, allowing complex life forms to evolve.

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