The most Earth-like planet is not habitable – Hypertext

NASA Ames / SETI Institute / JPL-Caltech

Will we find some day extraterrestrial life? To find an answer to this question, missions like Kepler space probe for possible worlds similar to Earth. Locate these exoplanets “target” allows us to better focus the search of living bodies outside our solar system. Researchers have so far identified potential Kepler-438b , regarded as the foremost exoplanet, since it has a similarity with the Earth 88%. Kepler-438b had the highest rate of similarity to the Earth

The hopes placed in this world, popularly referred to as” another Earth “since its discovery in January 2015, have suffered an unexpected setback. One study, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society says that large amounts of radiation that Kepler-438b receive this exoplanet become a “uninhabitable” . The world, which is 12% larger than Earth, was considered so far as a “planetary twin”. Only it is outside our solar system, 470 light years away, in a place known as the “Goldilocks” (Goldilocks).

According to sources consulted by Hypertext , the Research has analyzed parameters such as rotation, light and solar flares receiving various exoplanets, among which is also Kepler-438b. According to scientists at the University of Warwick, “the atmosphere could have vanished as a result of the radiation emitted by the red dwarf it orbits”. As we explained David J. Armstrong email, “Kepler-438b is five times closer to its star than the distance separating the Earth from the Sun”. This proximity causes in turn that large flares emitted have a greater effect on the exoplanet. The absence of atmosphere causes received large doses of radiation, which makes it “uninhabitable”

“As a result, there are a lot of radiation hitting Kepler-438b,” says Armstrong. If there is an atmosphere protecting the exoplanet would be much more difficult for this to happen. Unfortunately, the CMEs (in the form of bursts of plasma, electrons and protons) of the red dwarf seem to have “easily stripped” the atmosphere of Kepler-438b continues astrophysicist, first author from the article. By losing this “protective layer”, the exoplanet would be affected by high rates of radiation, which greatly reduce the chances of being inhabited. To confirm these initial findings, Armstrong suggests that we should study the atmosphere (if you count on a rest), but its remoteness complicates the work.

Although the odds were reduced habitable exoplanet more like Earth, the scientist is optimistic. “This is just a world, we have many more systems that could be conducive to finding extraterrestrial life,” he told Hypertext . According to Armstrong, research has demonstrated that “Not all Earth-like exoplanets are good places for life as we thought there would be” . Asked about the future of the Earth and the Sun, astrophysicist rejects that they could live in the future similar to that experienced by Kepler-438B process. “The sun is a very different this red dwarf star. What we probably find within billions of years is a sun become a red giant, it will expand and possibly engulf the Earth.” A very distant in time that possibly no scenario we will never see.