Exoplanets are, quite literally, out of this world. Other solar systems, other galaxies, trillions of planets in the universe are out there. Our solar system is one among billions in the universe. Exoplanets are planets that are out of this solar system, many million light years away, and may or may not have life in them.
For some exoplanets to have life on them, they need to be in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ of the solar system, where the temperatures are just right. For different stars that have different heat, Goldilocks Zones are different. A planet called Kepler-442b is a third larger than the earth. It is a super earth, bigger than our earth but smaller than Neptune. It also receives about two thirds of the bright light that reaches our planet. It currently has about 97% chance of being in the habitable zone. However, it has a temperature of -40 degrees Celsius. Also, Kepler-442b is over a thousand light years away. If we were travelling at a speed of 60 mph, it would take 12 billion years to reach.
Its brother, Kepler-452b, is nicknamed earth’s cousin. It is situated in the habitable zone, and temperatures are just right for water to exist. Its star, Kepler-452, however, is larger and brighter than ours, as it is approximately 1.5 billion years older. Its orbit is at 1.5 AU (the space between the earth and sun is 1 AU) But, it does not answer our trillion dollar question: is there life there? Can we go there?
Life on Kepler-452b is not proved. As for going there, it is 1800 light years away, so we can forget about it right now. It is also much bigger than the earth, so whether or not life can exist or not depends on its atmosphere, magnetic shield, gravity, temperature and many other factors. For now, though, our planet Earth is the only one with life we know about. But, with millions of solar systems, in billions of galaxies, in trillions of planets… we can’t be the only planet with life. It is a one-in-a-trillion chances.
Sources used-
· NASA(.gov)
· Diario AS
· Wikipedia
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