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Some people may wonder about the increased awareness of future challenges posed by climate change, would not it be easier to start all over again?
Setting up a human colony on another planet may seem attractive, but in reality this would prove exceptionally difficult.
In an article published this week in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists announced the discovery of an exoplanet called K2-18b, containing water vapor in its atmosphere. This is the first time that water has been discovered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with temperatures that can withstand life as we know it, scientists said.
All the planets in our solar system gravitate around the Sun. Those who surround other stars are called exoplanets.
Ms. Cindy Ng, Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the National University of Singapore, said, "It's never easy to start anywhere else." Humans have come billions of years from now. 39, biological evolution to adapt to the conditions of the Earth. "
But she noted that the Earth will one day run out of resources. "We do not rule out the possibility that future humans will migrate to another planet to survive."
K2-18b is in the "habitable zone" of its guest star. The area is defined by the ability of a planet to maintain liquid water on its surface, provided that the atmospheric pressure is sufficient.
Although some exoplanets reside in a habitable zone, this does not mean that they have the proper conditions for human life. Here are some planets considered by scientists in the habitable zone:
March
Often referred to as the "planet" sister of the Earth, Mars is presented as a possible second home for humans. But the average temperature is about minus 63 ° C and can go down to minus 125 ° C at the poles. In addition, the atmosphere contains about 95% carbon dioxide and only 0.174% oxygen. Soil has a relatively high concentration of toxic salts and no mass of liquid water has been confirmed on the planet.
This means that if humans were trying to bring Mars home, it would take considerable effort to terraform it so that it could sustain human life. Solutions include detonating nuclear weapons to melt ice caps and pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to increase average temperature.
Kepler 438b
It was once called the most livable exoplanet. Discovered in 2015, it revolves around an active red dwarf star. Although the Earth is protected from solar eruptions by its magnetic field, created by a rotating molten iron core, scientists do not know if Kepler 438b has a magnetic field. Otherwise, its surface would be heavily irradiated each time a solar flare occurs, making it a fallow land.
Gliese 667Cc
Although scientists have not confirmed the size of this exoplanet, it has a mass about 4.5 times greater than that of the Earth. It is about 22 light-years away and its average surface temperature is 30 ° C. But it's locked by a focus: a hemisphere is constantly facing the orbiting star, while Another is in perpetual darkness.
Whenever scientists discover a potentially habitable planet, we remember how perfect our own home is. Small changes would make a planet completely hostile to human existence, and the Earth is an isolated balloon that overlaps this delicate balance to sustain life.
• Source: Nasa, Space.com
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