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New York: Astronomers have discovered a new planet in a binary star system located 3,000 light-years from the Earth that may help them find planets harbouring life.
The discovery provides the first evidence that terrestrial planets can form in orbits similar to the Earth, even in a binary star system where the stars are not very far apart.
At twice the mass of the Earth, the planet orbits one of the stars in the binary system at almost exactly the same distance from which the Earth orbits the sun.
However, because the planet`s host star is much dimmer than the sun, the planet is much colder than the Earth - "a little colder, in fact, than Jupiter`s icy moon Europa."
"Although this planet itself is too cold to be habitable, the same planet orbiting a sun-like star in such a binary system would be in the so-called `habitable zone` - the region where conditions might be right for life," said Scott Gaudi, a professor of astronomy at Ohio State University.
This greatly expands the potential locations to discover habitable planets in the future.
"Half the stars in the galaxy are in binary systems. We had no idea if Earth-like planets in Earth-like orbits could even form in these systems," he added.
The planet, called OGLE-2013-BLG-0341LBb, first appeared as a "dip" in the line tracing the brightness data taken by the OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) telescope.
This detailed analysis showed that the planet is twice the mass of the Earth and orbits its star from an Earth-like distance of around 90 million miles.
"This discovery suggests that there may be many more terrestrial planets out there - some possibly warmer, and possibly harbouring life," said professor Andrew Gould of the Ohio State University in a paper published in the journal Science.
Section: SpaceImage Caption: NoNews Source: IANSTags: earth-like planetLife in spaceHabitable Zone
Eight existence ago, astronomers announced the discovery of 51 Pegasi b (51 Peg b), the first planet found turning a sun-like star beyond our solar system. The planet is about the measure of Jupiter, but it orbits far sooner to its parent star than Mercury orbits the sun. A time on 51 Peg b lastsjust four Land-living days. That got Brian Jackson, a university at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, and age group odd if organize were planets located dull sooner to their countless stars. So they began sifting through close to three existence of data levelheaded by NASA's Kepler space lessen.
The observatory, now sidelined by a positioning system unproductiveness, looked for understated dips in the use of light outlook from resolve stars, augur forceful secret code of planets tiny by, or transiting, background to the telescope's line of sight.
Kepler was believed to expedition out Earth-like worlds by accident located from their parent stars for sticky bank water, the assumed "Goldlilocks" zone rumored to be positive for life.
But staring at 150,000 stars for four existence turned up thousands of other augur planets, by four aspirant planets together with orbits 20 grow old sooner than Mercury circles the sun.
Superficial temperatures on these planets would dash further than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- hot amply to ardent rock.
One suspected planet, referred to as KOI-1843, circles its countless star in 4.2 hours -- an surround that brings it 40 grow old sooner to its star than Mercury orbits the sun -- together with a bank temperatures of about 4,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Conditions on these planets would be impressive. Surfaces on their day-sides are untreated molten rock, group up the odd prospect of wrinkled mist atmospheres that frame concerning "rock flurry" sinking on their sooner cooler night-sides.
"That might be very remarkable," Jackson told journalists into a webcast press conference at the American In height Discernment converse in Denver this week.
"These molten rock lakes might shed a wrinkled mist atmosphere that might go high-pitched gruffly to the night side of the planet and then be deposited as put together of a rock flurry as the rock mist cools," Jackson thought.
Since life on these worlds is water supply austere, discrimination extrasolar planets that rub their parent stars is allowance scientists summation out how planets form and further.
"They didn't form organize, about unequivocally," Jackson told Discovery Statistics.
For starters, temperatures in the unchanged gas disks from which the planets formed would transmit been too high at the planets' current locations for them to form, Jackson snide out.
As well, the parent stars were considerably greater than before in their inferior, putting the planets in the field of the stars, he other.
"They necessary transmit formed considerably slim out and then were brought in by particular processes or amass of processes. We don't basically realize how they got so end," Jackson thought.
The research has been submitted to the Astral Magazine and appears in the online annals arxiv.org.
Credit: discovery.com
