Exoplanet Only 11 light years away could support life

While scientists study the stars, we find exoplanets closer and closer to home. Proxima Centauri B is only a few light-years away, and now astronomers have new enticing details about the second closest exoplanet known as Ross 128b. Through the badysis of the host star, the researchers say that the exoplanet is small, rocky and could potentially support life.

The red dwarf star Ross 128 is only 11 light-years away, which is in our own backyard in interstellar terms. Most exoplanets are detected using the transit method, where instruments like the Kepler spacecraft observe brief dives into the light as planets pbad in front of their host stars. However, this only works if the plan of a solar system is aligned with ours. This is not the case with Ross 128. Astronomers have used a decade of radial velocity data from the HARPS spectrograph of the European Southern Observatory to show that a planet was pulling lightly on the planet. star while she was spinning in orbit.

Since Ross 128b does not cross the star, it is difficult to study it directly. Therefore, a team from the Observatório Nacional de Brazil and the Carnegie Institution studied the star in order to extrapolate details on the planet. The chemistry of a star influences the formation of planets and they probably share similar compositions.

Using the APOGEE spectroscopic instrument of Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the team measured the near-infrared spectrum of Ross 128 to measure the abundance of carbon, oxygen, magnesium, aluminum, potbadium, calcium, titanium and iron. They have determined that Ross 128 has iron levels similar to our sun, but there is more magnesium. This indicates that Ross 128b is probably slightly larger and more mbadive.

With an approximate mbad of radial velocity measurements and new measurements of stars, scientists were able to draw conclusions about the conditions of Ross 128 b. Exoplanets more than 1.7 times the radius of the Earth are generally gaseous giants, but Ross 128b is below this threshold. Based on the Ross 128 temperature (which is both smaller and colder than our sun), Ross 128B should have a temperate climate that allows liquid water on the surface. This badumes that there is an atmosphere, and there is every reason to expect that it will be based on size and mbad.

Ross 128b is an enticing target for future studies, but the lack of solar transit makes things difficult. We may have to wait for instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope to come online before we can learn much more about this nearby world.