“A new home for humans”! The discovery of a nearby Earth-like planet that may be habitable

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Scientists have discovered a new Earth-sized planet, just 40 light-years away, that could support human or alien life.

The planet, called Gliese 12 b, was spotted by astronomers at the University of Warwick who made the exciting discovery using NASA satellites.

With a surface temperature estimated at around 42 degrees Celsius, experts say it is one of the few known rocky planets where humans could theoretically survive, if we actually managed to get there.

Scientists are still not sure what Gliese 12 b's atmosphere looks like, or if it actually has an atmosphere, but they say it is a similar size to Venus and orbits its host star every 12.8 Earth days.

In a paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on May 23, the team from universities in the United Kingdom and the United States described Gliese 12 b as “the closest temperate Earth-sized planet yet discovered.”

This could mean that astronomers may be one step closer to definitively proving the existence of aliens.

The planet's surface temperature is estimated at 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit), which is equivalent to a hot summer day on Earth, and is much lower than the temperatures of most of the 5,000 exoplanets confirmed so far. 

Professor Thomas Wilson, a physicist from the University of Warwick, was involved in the discovery using data from NASA satellites. He confirmed the existence of the planet and its characteristics, such as its size, temperature, and distance from Earth.

Professor Wilson said: “This is a really exciting discovery and will help us in our research into Earth-like planets across our galaxy. It is exciting that this planet is the closest planet we know to the size and temperature of Earth. The light we see now dates back to 1984, which is how long it took to reach us here on Earth. the earth".

He added: "Planetaries like Gliese 12 b are very few and far between, so it is very rare that we can examine one of them closely and learn about its atmosphere and temperature."

The scientists, part of an international team that worked with NASA to discover the planet using the agency's TESS satellite, found that the star equivalent to our Sun, called Gliese 12, is a cold red dwarf located in the constellation Pisces.

The size of the star is only about 27% of the size of our sun, and about 60% of the surface temperature of the sun.

The distance between the star Gliese 12 and the new planet is only 7% of the distance between Earth and the Sun.

The planet receives 1.6 times more energy from its star than Earth receives from the sun.

Red dwarfs tend to be magnetically active, resulting in frequent and powerful X-ray flares. However, analyzes conducted by scientists concluded that Gliese 12 shows no signs of extreme behavior.

The planet was first spotted in August 2021, but scientists recently discovered sufficient evidence to confirm its existence.