An artistic view of the Gliese 486b hot surface above the Earth. With a … [+]
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Astronauts in Germany have discovered a super-hot Earth near us that could help find planets with a breathing atmosphere.
Known as Gliese 486b, the planet larger than Earth revolves around a red star called Gliese 486 (also known as Wolf 437), which is about one-fifth the size of our Sun. The Virgo constellation is only 26.8 light-years away. That makes it a close cosmic neighbor on Earth.
Gliese 486b is a “super-Earth” – about a third larger than Earth – with a mass 2.8 times that of our home planet. It is a rocky planet with a metallic heart, similar to Venus and Earth, but with a more hot and dry Venutian-like landscape, with glorious lava rivers.
It was a lucky discovery. “One hundred degrees warmer and the entire surface of the planet would be lava. The atmosphere would be made up of vaporized rocks, ”said José A. Caballero of the Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA, Spain) and co-author of the paper published in the journal Science today.
“On the other hand, if Gliese 486b were a hundred degrees colder, it would be inappropriate to make follow-up comments.”
Gliese 486b is an upland – about a third larger than the Earth – with a mass 2.8 times that of our home … [+]
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However, despite changing very close to its parent star (a year lasts just 1.5 days on Gliese 486b) and being much warmer than the Earth at its surface (around 806 ° F / 430 ° C), the planet appears to have retained part of the original atmosphere.
Strong feel is not confirmed around Gliese 486b, but if it is, it could be extremely useful for astronauts.
The discovery and study of an exoplanetary atmosphere represents the next step in the discovery of an Earth-like world. That will largely be the job of future space telescopes – one of which will be launched later this year.
Astronauts know thousands of exoplanets, but they do not yet have the tools to find atmosphere easily. Take the Land; the feel is in a thin layer at just 60 miles, which represents a small fraction of its 8,000 mile diameter range. So when astronauts look out into space they hunt for signs of something not easy to see.
Allar Calar Theater and the milking method. Built in Almería. Andalusia. South of Spain.
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A sensation on Gliese 486b may help astronauts develop a plan for finding atmosphere around other exoplanets.
So how was the feel of Gliese 486b discovered? It was near us so essential. A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) used CARMENES, a spectrograph mounted at a 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope in Andalusia, Spain. The largest telescope on mainland Europe, yet it can only collect exoplanetary sensations just around very close stars – such as Gliese 486.
To confirm that Gliese 486 has air – and to find atmosphere around exoplanets beyond – it is necessary to wait for the next generation of super-telescopes to work.
“The proximity of this exoplanet is interesting because it will be possible to study it in more detail with powerful telescopes such as the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope and the huge Telescope of the future,” said Trifon Trifonov, planetary science at MPIA and lead author of the paper.
“We can hardly wait for the new telescopes to be available,” said Trifonov. “The results will help us to understand how rocky planets can best sustain their atmospheres, where they are made of and how they affect the energy circulation on the planets.”
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.