Kepler retired in 2018 but its data is still leading to new discoveries thanks to reanalysis and the application of a new algorithm. Like in this case.
A team of NASA researchers has discovered a new Earth-sized planet orbiting a star outside our solar system. The planet, called Kepler-1649c, is just 1.06 times larger than Earth, making it very similar to our own world in physical dimension. It is also fairly close to its star, orbiting at a distance where it gets about 75% of the light we get from the Sun, suggesting that the exoplanet’s surface temperature could be similar to Earth’s.
300 light years distant from Earth
The star of the planet is a red dwarf-colder and smaller than our Sun-, something that, perhaps, could hinder the evolution of life on the rocky surface of its satellite due to frequent flares, unlike in our own neighborhood, which is quite a bit quieter. It also orbits so close to its star that a year represents only 19.5 of our days , but the star emits significantly less heat than the Sun, so it is actually in the right zone to allow for the presence of liquid water, in the habitable zone.
The planet has been named Kepler-1649c and is approximately 300 light years distant from Earth. Of all the exoplanets found by Kepler, this distant world is the most similar to the size and estimated temperature of Earth.
The Kepler False Positive Working Group team was the one who discovered this new world after the algorithm designed to identify potential planets in the Kepler data – Robovetter – mislabelled the planet as a “false positive.” After taking a closer look at this “error” they came across that the conditions of Kepler-1649c could be conducive to sustaining life (depending on the type of atmosphere the planet has, of course). Experts have published their findings in The Astrophysical Journal .
“Of all the mislabeled planets that we have recovered, this one is particularly exciting, not only because it is in the habitable zone and is the size of Earth, but because of how it could interact with its neighboring planet,” explained Andrew Vanderburg, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin and co-author of the study. “If we hadn’t examined the algorithm’s work by hand, we would have missed it.”
A new hope?
It is still too early to conclude that this “alien Earth” could be habitable because, although it is very similar to our planet – we have already seen that there are key data to be elucidated such as the composition of its atmosphere . There could also be other conflicts with Kepler-1649c regarding its ability to support life, including errors in the data used to determine that it is Earth-like and that it is orbiting in the proper habitable zone around its star. Regardless, it represents one of the best potential extrasolar planets found in terms of potential for life, thanks to the combination of its size and the temperate orbital band it occupies.
It will probably be a long time before we can definitively say anything conclusive about this world, but even finding exoplanets with possibilities for life is an exciting challenge.
” This intriguing and distant world gives us even greater hope that a second Earth is among the stars , waiting to be found,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
This new exoplanet joins other interesting near-Earth-size findings, such as TRAPPIST-1f in the TRAPPIST system 39 light-years from Earth.
Referencia: Andrew Vanderburg et al. A Habitable-zone Earth-sized Planet Rescued from False Positive Status, The Astrophysical Journal (2020). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab84e5
