As reported by CNN, astronomers have detected an earth-like exoplanet and the star that it orbits about 12 light years away. As their reports say, this exoplanet has a magnetic field and an atmosphere.
Life on Earth exists because of the magnetic field the Earth has and the high-energy particles and plasma that are regularly coming out of the sun. Similarly, this newly found exoplanet called YZ Ceti b could also have a possibility of an environment that could sustain life.
Sebastian Pineda and Jackie Villadsen from the University of Colorado (US) and Bucknell University (US) respectively are the astronomers who observed a repeating radio signal projecting from the star YZ Ceti, using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, a radio telescope operated by the US National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory, as PTI reported. The journal Nature Astronomy has published its findings.
“We saw the initial burst and it looked beautiful,” said Pineda. “When we saw it again, it was very indicative that, OK, maybe we really have something here.” Like the interaction between the magnetic field of the Earth with the sun, the radio waves that are detected by astronomers are also the result of the interaction between this exoplanet and its star. They have also said that to detect these radio waves this far away, they must be really strong.
Scientists have said that this planet and its star make an ideal pair because they are looking for such earth-like tiny planets and the exoplanet is very close to its star and it orbits it in just two days.
“This research shows not only that this particular rocky exoplanet likely has a magnetic field but provides a promising method to find more.” They concluded.
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