The search for where else in the universe humans could live has been ongoing for years with Mars commonly being cited as the top candidate. However, scientists have discovered a new planet that could not only be habitable, but you could also live longer in its environment. Specifically, up to the age of 3,158.
The discovery was made by team of scientists working with the University of Bern as well as the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR).
With the help of NASA’s TESS space telescope, researchers found the planet using the transit method. This is where the telescope monitors the brightness of a star, looking for any dimmings that might be caused by planets passing in front of the star.
Twin planets in orbit
Located 100 light years from Earth, scientists discovered that the star, LP 890-9 or TOI-4306 is half the temperature of our sun, and 6.5 times smaller.
Two planets were orbiting it, with one of them being at the right distance from the star to potentially hold liquid water on its surface.
The inner planet called LP 890-9b orbits the star in 2.7 days while the outer planet called LP 890-9c takes around 8.5 days to do the same. The inner planet is too hot to hold liquid water but the outer planet is capable of doing so which makes it the habitable planet of the two.
“This second planet receives about the same amount of stellar radiation as our Earth receives from the Sun and could therefore potentially have liquid water on its surface.” said Dr Robert Wells from the University of Bern and the NCCR.
Typically, exoplanets, which are planets discovered outside of our solar system are either far too hot or ice cold to live on. Last year, scientists had discovered a ‘hellish world‘ called TOI-1431b which had an average daytime temperature of 2,700 degrees Celsius. Definitely not somewhere humans could live.
Space and chocolate
While scientists must have a logical reason for giving new planets such complex names, instead of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and so on. Being that the letters “b” and “c” are likely used to distinguish the two planets orbiting the star, it would be much easier to call them SnickersB and SnickersC for example.
Being that there’s The Milky Way (a chocolate bar), which is the galaxy (a chocolate bar) that our solar system is part of, a planet called Mars (also a chocolate bar), it only makes sense for scientists to continue this food themed naming process.
Super Earths
Located in the Eridanus constellation, the two planets orbiting this cool sun LP 890-9 are being referred to as “Super-Earths” as they are of similar rocky composition and are roughly 30 to 40 percent larger than our Earth.
Dr Wells emphasises that scientists will need to conduct more research will need to be conducted in order to confirm if humans can well and truly pack their bags and move to LP 890-9c.
“We should not get ahead of ourselves. Being in the right spot does not guarantee a palm beach.”
“Our neighbor planet Venus, which is, so to speak, a CO2 rich near 500°C pressure cooker, is also near this so-called habitable zone around the Sun.”
“To be able to answer whether this planet can indeed hold liquid surface water or not, we need to learn more about it. This requires detailed observations – for example with the James Webb Space Telescope.”
Too many birthdays and seasons
Aside from possibly being the first planet humans could live on, we could also live for longer in theory. The average life expectancy on Earth is 73.5 years and being that LP 890-9c takes just 8.5 days to orbit its star, the years pass by much faster as opposed to our Earth’s 365-day orbit around the sun.
It’s like the opposite of being born on a leap year. Biologically, they do not age faster than other people, it’s just that their February 29 birthday only comes up every four years. This is why one person would be celebrating their 20th birthday whereas a person born in the same year but on February 29 would call it their 5th birthday. On this new planet, your birthday would be celebrated almost every other day if the years are only 8.5 days long.
The seasons on this planet would also pass by in the blink of an eye. One minute it’s snowing and the next it’s raining and then it’s summer. How would humans decide what clothes to wear with such fast days?