The discovery of a new "earth like planet" has been sending ripples through the scientific community. At approximately 1.3 times the size of the earth and apparently having a rocky surface, should the planet have an atmosphere then it could certainly possess liquid water, raising the possibility of some form of life. If the planet has no atmosphere then the temperature would be about -40C
What makes the discovery all the more remarkable is that the planet orbits the nearest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri, right on our doorstep.
“There is a reasonable expectation that this planet might be able to host life, yes,” according to Guillem Anglada-Escudé, co-author of the research from Queen Mary, University of London.
Despite this, it is unlikely that we would be able to visit, at 4.2 light years from earth, it would take about 70,000-100,000 years to reach Proxima B, as the newly discovered planet has been named.
Proxima B orbits within the "habitable zone", a distance from its star where life is most likely to exist and this being the case, it would be safe to assume that many planets within the galaxy also have similar orbits, raising the possibility that life may be more common than we can even imagine.
No comments:
Post a Comment