SCIENCE

Earth doppelganger discovered and may be habitable

Astronomers have discovered a planet beyond our Solar System that has a mass similar to Earth's and is potentially habitable.

The Earth-mass exoplanet orbits a red dwarf star called Wolf 1069 in the constellation Swan, just 31 light-years from Earth.

Known as Wolf 1069 b, the planet is estimated to be about the same size as Earth and also about the same mass.

It is the sixth closest known Earth-mass planet orbiting in the habitable zone of its star.

photo Ansa
The discovery
Astronomers have discovered a planet beyond our Solar System that has a mass similar to Earth's and is potentially habitable. The discovery was made by a team of researchers led by Diana Kossakowski from the German Institute Max Planck for Astronomy (Mpia) at Heidelberg, who published it in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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Where it is located
The Earth-mass exoplanet orbits around a red dwarf star called Wolf 1069 in the constellation Swan, "only" 31 light-years from Earth. Known as "Wolf 1069 b", the planet is estimated to be about the same size as Earth and also about the same mass.
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How it is characterized
This planet has an orbit that lasts about 15 days. It is therefore very close to its star, the red dwarf Wolf 1069, but despite this it receives only about 65 percent of the energy that Earth gets from the Sun. This is because the red dwarf is much fainter and colder than our Sun: in fact, the average temperature calculated for the planet is about -23 degrees, which suggests that it is a rocky body.
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It could be habitable
The new planet ranks sixth in terms of distance from us among potentially habitable Earth-mass planets, and was identified thanks to the project Carmenes, active since 2016, which uses the Calar Alto observatory in Spain. It may be habitable. Despite having one perpetually illuminated face and one perpetually dark face, just like the Moon. Moreover, if it also had an atmosphere, the study authors estimated that the temperature could rise as high as 13 degrees, allowing the existence of liquid water in a large region of the star-facing side.
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It will be the subject of further research
The new Earth doppelganger is thus on its way to becoming a promising candidate for more in-depth research.
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