A planet (super-Earth) resembling Earth about 8 billion years from now has been discovered 4,000 light-years away. The Earth we live on maintains a reasonable distance from the Sun, but solar radiation is expected to become strong enough to evaporate water in 1 billion years, and the Sun will engulf the Earth in 7.5 billion years.
In an observation report published in the international academic journal Nature Astronomy at the end of last month, the planetary science research team at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reported that there is a planet similar to Earth 8 billion years from now in a star system located 4,000 light-years away from Earth.
The star system observed by the research team is ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414’ near the center of our Galaxy. This star system was discovered in 2020, when ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414’ moved in front of a more distant star about 25,000 light years away, causing a gravitational lens effect that distorts space and light due to gravity. .
KMT-2020-BLG-0414Lb also listed on NASA Planet Explorer
Researcher Keming Jang, who led the investigation, said, “As a result of further investigation of ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414’, it was discovered that the one located at the center was a white dwarf with a mass of about half that of the Sun, called ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414L’.” “We also know that a planet with a mass twice that of Earth called ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414Lb’ and a brown dwarf with a mass about 17 times that of Jupiter called ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414Lc’ are orbiting around this center. “I paid it,” he said.
Stars that are not massive enough to become neutron stars, like the Sun, eventually expand and become red giants. As the outer gas with weakened gravity flows out, it becomes a white dwarf, which is a terminal form also called a ‘stellar remnant’. The sun is also expected to soon become a white dwarf.
The research team estimated that the Earth-like planet ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414Lb’, which orbits the white dwarf ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414L’, will be similar to Earth in 8 billion years if it is not swallowed by the Sun.
There is a long-standing hypothesis that the Earth is destined to one day have its surface water evaporated by the sun and eventually be swallowed by the planet Jupiter.
Researcher Keming Jang said, “The Sun will begin to expand in about 1 billion years, transform into a red giant star larger than the Earth’s orbit, and is expected to first engulf Mercury or Venus.” He added, “It is unclear whether the expanded Sun will engulf the Earth in 6 billion years. “There is still controversy as to whether the Earth, whose orbit has moved further away due to the decrease in the Sun’s mass, will survive the Sun’s runaway,” he explained.
He continued, “In any case, the Earth will be habitable for about another billion years,” and added, “Earth’s oceans will evaporate due to the runaway greenhouse effect long before the risk of being swallowed by a red giant becomes a reality.”
If the Earth ends up not being swallowed by the Sun, its orbit, which was distant when it was a red giant, will not change even after the Sun becomes a white dwarf. The orbit of ‘KMT-2020-BLG-0414Lb’ is about twice the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is about 150 million km, and the orbit is thought to be similar if the Sun had not swallowed the Earth.
Enceladus orbits close to Saturn’s rings. The material in the water column emitted by this moon makes up Saturn’s outer rings.
Researcher Keming Jang said, “Even if the Sun becomes a red giant and becomes uninhabitable on Earth, humanity may seek refuge in the outer edge of the solar system,” especially Jupiter’s moons Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede, or Saturn’s moon Enceladus. “As the red giant expands, the frozen surface may melt and create an ocean,” he said.
He said, “If the sun becomes a red giant, the habitable zone (Goldilocks zone), which indicates the possibility of life existing in the star system, will move around the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, and many of their moons will become ocean planets.” “I think we can move there as shown in science fiction movies,” he emphasized.
Reporter Jeong Ian anglee@sputnik.kr
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