For the first time, astronomers have found water in a planet that is within a lifetime of a star. The planet, which they regarded as a giant Earth, orbits a dwarf star in the constellation Lion, with a mass about eight times the mass of the Earth and more than twice its diameter.
The researchers, led by Angelos Tsiyaras and Ingo Waldman of the University of London, found the planet using the Hubble Space Telescope after detecting the fingerprint of water vapor in the atmosphere about 110 light-years from Earth. The researchers gave K2-18b a rating for the new planet and published their findings in the journal Astronomy, a specialist in astronomy research.
The researchers found no traces of life on the planet.
Researchers classify any range around a star, in which the temperature of water in a star's planet allows it to be liquid, because water is the prerequisite for life to exist as we know it.
So far, astronomers have already uncovered several star planets in areas that allow life, but this is the first time, according to the university, that evidence of water exists in one of these planets. "Finding water in a potentially viable world, far from the land, is very exciting," he said.
The researchers said the new planet is not symmetrical with Earth because it is much heavier than it and its atmosphere has another composition. "However, this brings us closer to answering a fundamental question: Is Earth unique?" Researchers discovered the extrasolar planet already in 2015, passing regularly in front of its star, considering it from the Earth, and this star remains somewhat temporary. During such a transition, the star illuminates the planet's atmosphere from behind.