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French astronomer finds new planet
The exoplanet is situated outside of our solar system
French astronomers have told how they discovered a potentially habitable Earth-sized planet that has similar surface temperatures and may be able to support human life... and it is ‘only’ 11 light-years away.
A Université Grenoble Alpes team led by Dr Xavier Bonfils discovered exoplanet Ross 128b – using the planet-hunting HARPS instrument at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla site in Chile.
An exoplanet is a planet outside of our solar system. Ross 128b is the second-nearest one to Earth and orbits the dim red dwarf Ross 128. It is in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone where it is close enough to have liquid water and not too far to be frozen.
Dr Bonfils called for follow-up studies and told Connexion: “The planet is only slightly more massive than our Earth, is temperate, and orbits a slowly rotating, quiet red dwarf.
“Liquid water might exist on its surface”.
His team found it after spotting flickers in the light from Ross 128 caused by the gravitational pull as the exoplanet revolved round it. Ross 128 is in the Virgo constellation, as part of the ‘head’. It is seven billion years old and relatively inactive, increasing the chances that Ross 128b could support life and, possibly in the future, humans.
Dr Bonfils said: “Our next stage is to find out if Ross 128b has an atmosphere as we have found other exoplanets that are similar size and mass but we have not seen an atmosphere.”
The new ELT telescope being built in Chile is 15 times stronger than any other optical telescope and he said: “This, by the end of the next decade, will let us see Ross 128b and see whether it has an atmosphere, and perhaps water.
“We will be able to look for biomarkers – a suite of molecules including water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, metals and ozone that will say if a form of life can or does exist there...”
Scientists know of about 3,700 exoplanets and Proxima b in the Alpha Centauri system is closest to Earth at 4.2 light years. But UV and X-rays from its hot, young star, Proxima Centauri, may have left Proxima b sterile and empty.
