A 10 billion year old ‘Super-Earth’ has been found in our Galaxy which suggests that old lifestyles are possible

Astronauts have discovered a hot, rocky “super Earth” that has been around for almost the beginning of our Milky Way galaxy.

Finding intelligent life can make a big difference.

About 280 light-years away, the TOI-561b is a rocky world a third larger than Earth orbiting its star in just 10.5 hours.

It is thought to be about 10 billion years old – twice as old as the Solar System – when most of the stars in our galaxy were starting to shine. The Sweetheart is about 12 billion years old.

TOI-561b’s assertion shows that rocky planets may have formed for most of Earth’s history.

“TOI-561b is one of the oldest rocky planets yet to be discovered,” said Lauren Weiss, team leader and graduate student at the University of Hawaii. “Its existence shows that the Universe has formed of almost rocky planets since its inception 14 billion years ago.”

The team’s paper was unveiled at the recent 237th meeting of the Astronomical Society of America and will appear internally The Astronomical Journal in February 2021.

The detection of TOI-561b affects alien hunting.

“It means that rocky planets could be formed for the last 10 billion years – and perhaps the 12 billion years of our galaxy’s history,” Weiss said. “Imagine what could have happened on a rocky planet that has been around for 10 billion years – I’d like to know. ”

What was found?

Astronauts have discovered three planets – TOI-561b, TOI-561c and TOI-561d – using NASA’s Exoplanet Transiting Survey (TESS) space telescope and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

They’re tearing up a star called (you won) TOI-561, which is a star in the galactic thick disk ”- and that is what makes this discovery so important.

Here’s what we know about TOI-561b and its star:

• It is 280 light-years away in the Sextans constellation The Sextant, a faint constellation in the southern hemisphere night sky.
• A rocky world is 1.45 times the size of the Earth and about three times its mass – “super-Earth” – although it has the same density, which indicates that it is very old.
• It moves to TOI-561, a rugged orange metal star that is one of the oldest in the galaxy at about 10 billion years old.
• The planets are about the same age, making them among the oldest exoplanets still discovered.
• It moves to a star in just 10.5 hours, making the TOI-561b an ultra-short-lived planet (USP).
• It is quickly locked to its star, so it has a permanent day side that tends to be home to an ocean of magma.

What is a galactic thick disk? ‘

Most spinning galaxies have two discs like our own Milky way – a “thin galactic disk” containing dust, gas, stars and planets on the plane, and a “thick galactic disk” with stars without metal. Their lack of metals – especially iron and magnesium – is thought to mean that there are stars in the thick disk that have no planets. Most planets discovered by astronauts erupt stars in the thin disk.

However, that is not the case with the TOI-561 star system, which was found in the thick disk where planets are not thought to form around stars.

That makes TOI-561b one of the first proven rocky exoplanets found in the thick disk of the Milky Way – and suggests that rocky planets have evolved from the beginning of the Earth about 14 billion years ago.

That shows that old lifestyles could exist for several billion years.

Where did the planet come from?

Stars in the thick galactic disk may have formed in an ancient galaxy that later merged with ours, or they may have been the first stars to form within the Milky Way. “I wonder what view of the night sky would have been accessible from the rocky planet of history,” Weiss said.

Could TOI-561b live in old life habits?

TOI-561b notes that rocky planets may have formed for most of Earth’s history. “I wonder if they have anyone we could talk to,” Weiss said.

TOI-561b does not seem to be hosting your life anymore. Not only does the planet erupt the star twice a day on Earth, but it moves so close that it’s just too hot to have melting water on its surface – surface temperatures are average of 2,500K (4,000 ° F).

However, while the day side of TOI-561b appears to be a magma ocean, the night side could be rock solid.

TOI-561b seems to suggest that much more of the rocky world is still to be found around the oldest stars in our galaxy that may still be inhabited – and so just could be home to old ways of life.

After all, the earliest forms are thought to have taken at least a billion years to come to be on Earth. So the older and more stable the planet, the more likely it will be in the form of life of some sort.

“I’d bet an 10 billion-year-old star would find it easier to get some intelligent civilization on a rocky planet around her than a billion-year-old planet,” Weiss said.

How do we know TOI-561b is so old?

It is almost the same density as the Earth, which appears to be old. Why? You heard Carl Sagan’s saying “we’re all made of starstuff,” right? Well, so are stars and planets. Metals heavier than iron are formed in the interior of falling stars and spread out into the cosmos by supernovae. Planets come from these “starstuff”. So if there is a low-metal star or planet, it must have existed a long time ago when fewer supernovae occurred.

“It turns out that metal-poor stars are not a challenge for the creation of planets early in the Universe,” Weiss said. “Poor metal stars are just as good as full metal stars. That’s surprising. ”

What about the other planets?

TOI-561 has two other less dense planets moving over the star, both of which are about twice the radius of the Earth and are too large and low mass to be rocky:

• TOI-561 is 2.9 times the size of the Earth and tears its star every 10.8 days – this one is proven.
• TOI-561 d is 2.3 times the size of Earth and tears its star every 16.3 days – this one only candidate planet.

What is TESS?

Launched in 2018, the spacecraft Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) examines sections of the sky looking for stars that decay slightly from time to time. That is a strong indication that a planet is crossing from a TESS perspective. Astronauts then follow up and make more detailed observations, as did this team using the Echelle High Resolution Spectrometer (HIRES) at Keck Observatory in Maunakea, Hawaii.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.