Rapid Fire
Gliese 12 b Potentially Habitable Exoplanet near Earth
- 28 May 2024
- 2 min read
NASA has announced the discovery of an Earth-sized, potentially habitable exoplanet named Gliese 12 b, located just 40 light-years away from Earth, making it one of the closest known potentially habitable planets to our solar system.
- Gliese 12 b has an average surface temperature of 42 °C, which is lower than the majority of the 5,000 or so exoplanets discovered so far.
- The exoplanet is slightly smaller than Earth, with a size comparable to Venus.
- Gliese 12 b is a super-Earth exoplanet that orbits an M-type (red dwarf) star, Gliese 12, every 12.8 days. The star has a total of seven planets, all roughly the size of Earth and likely rocky.
- Three of the planets orbiting Gliese 12 fall within the habitable zone, the distance from a star at which liquid water can exist on the surfaces of planets.
- The host star is metal-poor, suggesting it may have weaker magnetic fields and more volcanism than Earth, which could help Gliese 12 b maintain an atmosphere.
- NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) played a crucial role in the initial detection of Gliese 12 b, paving the way for further observations and analysis with the James Webb Space Telescope.
Read more: Exoplanet
