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Scientists have made great strides in the search for viable worlds by discovering for the first time a planet outside the solar system with traces of water.
Water vapor was discovered on the planet called "super earth" about 110 light-years away. It is estimated that she is twice as large as our planet and eight times greater than its mass.
K2-18b also has an atmosphere and temperature range adapted to the presence of organisms, according to scientists from College London.
The planet is approaching its star in relation to the Earth's proximity to the Sun, which means it will have fewer years to complete its orbit in 33 days, while our planet will reach it in 365 days .
NASA's Kepler spotted the outer planet for the first time in 2015, but the data analysis revealed new details that we had never seen before, as current equipment can identify key factors, such as distance, mass and surface temperature.
But sophisticated tools developed at the University of California are able to translate data from the Hubble Space Telescope to understand the unique molecular effects of water vapor.
"This is the only planet outside our solar system, whose temperature, atmosphere and water quality are known," said Dr. Angelos Tsiyaras, author of the study.
The presence of water vapor in the atmosphere of the planet suggests that it could act from a rocky or icy world, with too much water in its depths .
Since most other exoplanets, like the recent discovery, are giants (such as Jupiter and Saturn), K2-18b offers researchers a valuable opportunity to study smaller, rocky or icy planets.
"Of course, K2-18b is not a second Earth, because it is a much larger planet and of different atmospheric composition.It also revolves around a completely different star, so that It does not look like the Earth. "The search for viable planets is very exciting," he said. But "our planet" is our only home and it is unlikely that we can travel on other planets.
Although the planet is in the viable zone of its solar system, scientists say that there is currently no way to determine if there are signs of life on its surface.
Experts will continue to monitor the planet to prove their theory of the polarization of life and have made it clear that they can not determine the amount of water already on the planet. They said that the water content could reach at least 0.01% or at most 50%.
Scientists, who spent more than a year in their study before being published in Nature Astronomy, said they did not believe that K2-18b is the only planet of its kind. They hope that new technologies, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in March 2021, will help reveal more secrets outside our solar system.
Source: Daily Mail
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