Closest Planet Yet: Earth-Like Exoplanet Found only 40 Light Years Away

Astronomers have discovered an Earth-like exoplanet just 40 light-years away from our solar system, making it the closest potentially habitable world to us so far.

The planet, which orbits the star Gliese 12 in the constellation Pisces, was first discovered by astronomers using NASA’s space telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

“It was identified as an ideal candidate for follow-up analysis,” he says. Larissa Palethorpe at the University of Edinburgh in the UK.

Palethorpe and his colleagues decided to use the European Space Agency’s Exoplanet Characterization Satellite and ground-based observatories in Australia, Chile, and China to get a closer look at the planet, which they’ve named Gliese 12b.

By observing how the brightness of the host star changes as the planet moves around it, the research team found that Gliese 12b’s orbit is fast, orbiting Gliese 12 in just 12.8 days. I discovered that. It is also slightly smaller than Earth and about the same size as Venus. With an estimated surface temperature of 42°C (108°F), the planet could harbor liquid water and even life.

“It’s really exciting,” Palethorpe said, “because this is the closest transiting temperate planet to Earth, and it’s going to be really important for us to be able to do follow-up observations of its atmosphere using the James Webb Space Telescope.”

To get a better idea of the planet’s habitability, researchers plan to continue monitoring Gliese 12b to determine if and what kind of atmosphere it has.

“It could be Earth-like, it could be Venus’ runaway atmosphere, or something in between,” Palethorpe said. “I’m not completely sure yet.”

Whatever they discover, it could help us understand how the rocky planets in our solar system have changed over time. “Whatever the outcome, it may tell us how Earth became habitable and why Venus never did.”