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When they are looking for exoplanets that can potentially sustain life, astronomers start by looking at those who are orbiting in the "habitable zone": the distance of the star mother is correct for that 39, liquid water exists on the surface, creating the conditions necessary for life as we know it
A new study found that two of the most promising planets are now even more promising, with features that probably give them seasons regular and stable climates.
Whether or not in the habitable zone is a good starting point for deciding which exoplanets are not interested, but this is not the only parameter. As a result, there are many factors that can influence the liveability of a planet, including stellar radiation, other weather, the atmosphere of the planet, l 39; volcanic activity, plate tectonics, water content and axial inclination
In our Solar System, the Earth is in the habitable zone (known as the Gildilocks zone) with Venus and Mars, but until here alone our planet has definitely proved that she had life.
in the habitable zone of our solar system, but its axial inclination was very unstable, ranging from zero to 60 degrees from time to time, "said Gongjie Li, co-principal investigator of the study. "This instability has probably contributed to the decomposition of the Martian atmosphere and the evaporation of surface water," he adds.
Living Exoplanets
For the new study, researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvard Center-Smithsonian for Astrophysics used simulations to discover the dynamics of the rotational axis of two of the most telluric exoplanets ever discovered: Kepler-186f and Kepler-62f
The first was found in 2014 and orbits in the habitable region of a red dwarf star about 500 light-years from Earth. It is 10% larger than our planet and surrounds its star once every 130 days. The Kepler-62f, on the other hand, is 40% larger than the Earth and is 1,200 light-years away, also in the Goldilocks zone of its star.
Both planets would have stable axial inclinations. This is largely because they do not interact with their neighboring planets as strongly as the planets in our solar system. For example, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury interact gravitationally, potentially playing with the axial tilt of the other. The moon keeps the Earth constantly rotating, but Mars is not so lucky.
It is not yet known whether they have moons, but calculations show that even without natural satellites the axes of rotation of the two exoplanets would have remained constant for tens of millions of years.
The research was published in The Astronomical Journal and Georgia Tech
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