Will Earth 2.0 be discovered next?
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Astronomers believe they may have discovered a solar system similar to our own after finding a gas giant that could be Jupiter’s doppelganger orbiting a sun just like ours.
Using the HARPS planet-hunting instrument on the 3.6-meter telescope at European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, an international team of astronomers has spotted a planet with a “very similar mass to Jupiter” orbiting a sun-like star, named HIP 11915, according to Sci-News.
This discovery has some fascinating implications for planetary formation and the possibility of truly Earth-like planets forming elsewhere in our galaxy.
“After two decades of hunting for exoplanets, we are finally beginning to see long-period gas giant planets similar to those in our own Solar System thanks to the long-term stability of planet hunting instruments like HARPS,” said Dr. Megan Bedell from the University of Chicago, lead author of the paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. “This discovery is, in every respect, an exciting sign that other solar systems may be out there waiting to be discovered.”
Jupiter is well known to be the gravitational powerhouse of our solar system due to its behemoth size. The solar system was once a violent and tumultuous place, but the gravitational heft of Jupiter stabilized the inner solar system, making it a conducive environment to form Earth in a stable orbit inside our sun’s habitable zone, according to Discovery News.
Current theories also propose that Jupiter had a huge part to play in “vacuuming” the inner solar system, protecting a nascent Earth from the onslaught of comets and asteroids that were pinging around the fledgling solar system and allowing life to take root on our planet.
“The quest for an Earth 2.0, and for a complete Solar System 2.0, is one of the most exciting endeavors in astronomy,” exclaimed Jorge Melendez, of the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, leader of the study and co-author of the paper.
Follow-up observations are needed to confirm and constrain the finding, but HIP 11915 is one of the most promising candidates so far to host a planetary system similar to our own, stated the astronomers.
2 Comments
If we found another Earth-like planet and it is inhabited, at the very least I would be curious to see if they ****ed theirs up as much as we have ours.
If we do find an Earth-like planet we should keep this in mind. Our Earth is the way it is because it has evolved along with the life forms that live here. Life forms like us. If we find an Earth-like planet, it will probably already be inhabited.