{"id":11009,"date":"2024-05-23T12:09:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T16:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-tess-finds-intriguing-world-sized-between-earth-venus\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T12:09:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T16:09:22","slug":"nasas-tess-finds-intriguing-world-sized-between-earth-venus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-tess-finds-intriguing-world-sized-between-earth-venus\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s TESS Finds Intriguing World Sized Between Earth, Venus"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s TESS Finds Intriguing World Sized Between Earth, Venus<\/h2>\n

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5 min read<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s TESS Finds Intriguing World Sized Between Earth, Venus<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Using observations by NASA\u2019s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)<\/a> and many other facilities, two international teams of astronomers have discovered a planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus only 40 light-years away. Multiple factors make it a candidate well-suited for further study using NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Gliese 12 b, which orbits a cool red dwarf star located just 40 light-years away, promises to tell astronomers more about how planets close to their stars retain or lose their atmospheres. In this artist\u2019s concept, Gliese 12 b is shown retaining a thin atmosphere.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

TESS stares at a large swath of the sky for about a month at a time, tracking the brightness changes of tens of thousands of stars at intervals ranging from 20 seconds to 30 minutes. Capturing transits<\/a> \u2014 brief, regular dimmings of stars caused by the passage of orbiting worlds \u2014 is one of the mission\u2019s primary goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve found the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size world located to date,\u201d said Masayuki Kuzuhara, a project assistant professor at the Astrobiology Center<\/a> in Tokyo, who co-led one research team with Akihiko Fukui, a project assistant professor at the University of Tokyo<\/a>. \u201cAlthough we don\u2019t yet know whether it possesses an atmosphere, we\u2019ve been thinking of it as an exo-Venus, with similar size and energy received from its star as our planetary neighbor in the solar system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The host star, called Gliese 12, is a cool red dwarf located almost 40 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. The star is only about 27% of the Sun\u2019s size, with about 60% of the Sun\u2019s surface temperature. The newly discovered world, named Gliese 12 b, orbits every 12.8 days and is Earth\u2019s size or slightly smaller \u2014 comparable to Venus. Assuming it has no atmosphere, the planet has a surface temperature estimated at around 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n

Astronomers say that the diminutive sizes and masses of red dwarf stars make them ideal for finding Earth-size planets. A smaller star means greater dimming for each transit, and a lower mass means an orbiting planet can produce a greater wobble<\/a>, known as \u201creflex motion,\u201d of the star. These effects make smaller planets easier to detect.<\/p>\n

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\"Illustration<\/a><\/figure>
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Gliese 12 b\u2019s estimated size may be as large as Earth or slightly smaller \u2014 comparable to Venus in our solar system. This artist\u2019s concept compares Earth with different possible Gliese 12 b interpretations, from one with no atmosphere to one with a thick Venus-like one. Follow-up observations with NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope could help determine just how much atmosphere the planet retains as well as its composition.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The lower luminosities of red dwarf stars also means their habitable zones<\/a> \u2014 the range of orbital distances where liquid water could exist on a planet\u2019s surface \u2014 lie closer to them. This makes it easier to detect transiting planets within habitable zones around red dwarfs than those around stars emitting more energy.<\/p>\n

The distance separating Gliese 12 and the new planet is just 7% of the distance between Earth and the Sun. The planet receives 1.6 times more energy from its star as Earth does from the Sun and about 85% of what Venus experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cGliese 12 b represents one of the best targets to study whether Earth-size planets orbiting cool stars can retain their atmospheres, a crucial step to advance our understanding of habitability on planets across our galaxy,\u201d said Shishir Dholakia, a doctoral student at the Centre for Astrophysics<\/a> at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. He co-led a different research team with Larissa Palethorpe, a doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh<\/a> and University College London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both teams suggest that studying Gliese 12 b may help unlock some aspects of our own solar system\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is thought that Earth\u2019s and Venus\u2019s first atmospheres were stripped away and then replenished by volcanic outgassing and bombardments from residual material in the solar system,\u201d Palethorpe explained. \u201cThe Earth is habitable, but Venus is not due to its complete loss of water. Because Gliese 12 b is between Earth and Venus in temperature, its atmosphere could teach us a lot about the habitability pathways planets take as they develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

One important factor in retaining an atmosphere is the storminess of its star. Red dwarfs tend to be magnetically active, resulting in frequent, powerful X-ray flares. However, analyses by both teams conclude that Gliese 12 shows no signs of extreme behavior.<\/p>\n

A paper led by Kuzuhara and Fukui was published May 23 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/a>. The Dholakia and Palethorpe findings were published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society<\/a> on the same day.<\/p>\n

During a transit, the host star\u2019s light passes through any atmosphere. Different gas molecules absorb different colors, so the transit provides a set of chemical fingerprints that can be detected by telescopes like Webb.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know of only a handful of temperate planets similar to Earth that are both close enough to us and meet other criteria needed for this kind of study, called transmission spectroscopy, using current facilities,\u201d said Michael McElwain, a research astrophysicist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a> in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a co-author of the Kuzuhara and Fukui paper. \u201cTo better understand the diversity of atmospheres and evolutionary outcomes for these planets, we need more examples like Gliese 12 b.\u201d<\/p>\n

TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission managed by NASA Goddard and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Additional partners include Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia; NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley; the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts; MIT\u2019s Lincoln Laboratory; and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. More than a dozen universities, research institutes, and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tDownload additional images and video from NASA\u2019s Scientific Visualization Studio<\/span>
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By Francis Reddy<\/a>
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
301-286-1940
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov<\/a>
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/p>\n

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