Australian astronomers discover potentially habitable ‘Earth-like’ planet 150 light years away
Australian astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable “Earth-like” planet located 150 light-years away.
The candidate planet, called HD 137010 b, is about the same size as Earth and has an orbital period similar to our home, with a year lasting 355 days.
The candidate is also at a similar distance from the Sun to Earth, but receives almost 70 percent less light, making it slightly “colder” than our planet.
However, since its climate is more similar to Mars, it is estimated that the surface temperature will drop below -70 C in some regions.
The discovery was made by University of Southern Queensland researcher Dr. It was done by an international team led by Alexander Venner and used data from NASA’s 2017 Kepler extended K2 mission.
The researchers say the findings place them near the “outer edge of the habitable zone,” where liquid water could potentially exist under the right conditions.
The findings were published Thursday in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“This is the first planet candidate with Earth-like radius and orbital characteristics to pass in front of a Sun-like star, bright enough for significant follow-up observations,” the study says.
One of the researchers, Dr Chelsea Huang from the University of Southern Queensland, told the ABC the discovery was “really exciting”.
“Since the discovery of the first exoplanet 30 years ago, we have always tried to find Earth’s twin,” Dr Huang said.
“We haven’t found that yet. But we’re one step closer.”
Principal investigator Dr Venner said there was a 50 per cent chance the candidate planet was habitable.
The planet has only been seen passing in front of its star once and is therefore officially referred to as a “planet candidate.”
Follow-up observations will aim to confirm whether HD 137010 b is indeed a confirmed planet.
