A new exoplanet (also known as planets outside the Milky Way) was discovered by astronomers based on data from NASA's Kepler space telescope. It orbits a star very similar to our Sun and lies about 146 light years away. Despite the fact that the conditions on the discovered planet are not very similar to those on Earth (they are more reminiscent of those on Mars), scientists believe that there may be life on it. The new candidate for a habitable planet has been named HD 137010 b.
This planet was discovered by an international team of scientists from Australia, UK, USA and Denmark. They did this by processing data obtained in 2017 by the Kepler spacecraft. The results of the work have been published in the Astrophysical Journal.
According to one of the paper's authors, Chelsea Huang from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, HD 137010 b has many similarities with Earth. First, being close to a sun similar to our own gives it about a 50% chance of being in the habitable zone. Second, its year lasts almost the same as ours – 355 days.
Now let's talk about what the climate would be like on an open planet. Astronomers note that the star the planet orbits is cooler and dimmer than our Sun, meaning the planet's average surface temperature is more similar to that of Mars and can be as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius.
Before the discovery of HD 137010 b, Kepler-186f was considered the closest Earth-like planet to us. It is located approximately 490–580 light years from Earth. It turns out the circle is shrinking, and HD 137010 b, 146 light-years away, is the most Earth-like planet that could support life. However, scientists have yet to prove its similarity to Earth – they note that it will probably just be a large icy world.
The first exoplanets were discovered in the late 1980s. Most of them were discovered not through direct observations but using various indirect detection techniques. For example, here's the transit method: when a planet passes directly between its star and the observer, it weakens the star's light by a certain amount. From this value, the planet's characteristics will be calculated.
Currently, the existence of 7946 exoplanets in 5401 planetary systems has been reliably confirmed. Most of them are gas giants similar to Jupiter. This is explained by the limitations of detection methods (large planets are easier to detect, especially by indirect methods). Earth-like planets have been discovered much less – about 300. Among the rarest, scientists highlight HD 189733 A b, where it rains molten glass, CoRoT-7b with snow in the form of rocks, and 55 Cancer in the form of a giant diamond.
The closest exoplanet to Earth is considered to be the planet Proxima Centauri b. It lies 4.24-4.25 light years away from us. But this is clearly a very close distance – it would take the Voyager 2 probe about 75,000 years to reach it, covering about 40 trillion km.
Despite the fact that this exoplanet, located in the constellation Sagittarius, is very close to its star (its orbital period is only 11.2 Earth days), the sun does not burn it due to its low brightness. According to experts, this could indicate that liquid water could exist on it.
It is not known whether the planet is habitable or not. Scientists believe that even if there was, it was before March 2017. In fact, during this period, they recorded a strong flare on the planet's parent star. Proxima Centauri b is expected to receive such a huge amount of radiation that it could destroy the biosphere that exists on it.
