SPANISH and German scientists have discovered two exo-planets which may hold water and have a mild, Earth-like climate, meaning potentially, the conditions are right for extra-terrestrial life.
Both planets orbit the star known as Teegarden, a red dwarf around 12.5 light years from the Solar System, and both have a mass similar to Earth, according to co-researcher of the CARMENES Consortium, Pedro J. Amado.
“If there's water in liquid form, this greatly improves the probabilities of a planet's housing life as we know it on Earth,” says Amado.
“We already know that for life to develop on our own planet, oceans and liquid water have played a really important role.”
Teegarden is much smaller and less bright than the sun which the Earth goes around, and is only about half as hot – 2,600ºC compared with the 5,500ºC of the sun at the centre of the Solar System – and is 1,500 times weaker with 10 times less mass.
Because of these factors, the two exo-planets found orbit their sun at a much closer distance than that between the Earth and the brightest star in the Solar System.
Teegarden B, the closest planet to the Teegarden star, completes its orbit every 4.9 Earth days, whilst the more distant planet, Teegarden C, orbits the star in 11.4 days – meaning each planet's year is less than a week and less than a fortnight respectively.
a href="SPANISH and German scientists have discovered two exo-planets which may hold water and have a mild, Earth-like climate, meaning potentially, the conditions are right for extra-terrestrial life. Both planets orbit the star known as Teegarden, a red dwarf around 12.5 light years from the Solar System, and both have a mass similar to Earth, according to co-researcher of the CARMENES Consortium, Pedro J. Amado. “If there's water in liquid form, this greatly improves the probabilities of a planet's housing life as we know it on Earth,” says Amado. “We already know that for life to develop on our own planet, oceans and liquid water have played a really important role.” Teegarden is much smaller and less bright than the sun which the Earth goes around, and is only about half as hot – 2,600ºC compared with the 5,500ºC of the sun at the centre of the Solar System – and is 1,500 times weaker with 10 times less mass. Because of these factors, the two exo-planets found orbit their sun at a much closer distance than that between the Earth and the brightest star in the Solar System. Teegarden B, the closest planet to the Teegarden star, completes its orbit every 4.9 Earth days, whilst the more distant planet, Teegarden C, orbits the star in 11.4 days – meaning each planet's year is less than a week and less than a fortnight respectively.
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