The planet Gliese-12b, located close to Earth, is about the same size as Venus. According to scientists, Gliese-12b could potentially harbor life.
Scientists have discovered a new planet that could potentially support human life, and it’s not that far away, relatively speaking. The planet, called Gliese 12b, is about the same size as Venus, Earth’s twin, and could help scientists learn more about other Earth-like planets in space.
Gliese-12b could have favorable conditions
Gliese-12b is relatively close to us and lies in the habitable zone of its host star. This means that conditions are ideal for harboring liquid water on its surface. Scientists used NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, known as TESS, and supporting data from other observatories to detect this planet orbiting Gliese 12. They then calculated its size, temperature and how it moves.
Gliese-12b is located in the constellation Pisces, about 40 light-years away, and orbits a cold red dwarf known as Gliese 12. While 40 light years is very close on a space scale, on our scale it would take us 300,000 years to get there, even with our fastest spacecraft.
The temperature on Gliese 12b is around 42C, which means it could be habitable. In fact, it is one of the few known planets where humans could theoretically survive. The planet, which is about the same size as Venus, orbits its star every 12.8 days. While this means it is very close to its star, the cold red dwarf Gliese 12 is only 27 percent the size of the Sun and only 60 percent as hot.
The data shows that the planet receives 1.6 times more energy from its star than we get from the Sun, or about 85 percent of what Venus receives. For now, however, it is unclear whether Gliese-12b has an atmosphere. This makes Gliese-12b an excellent candidate for additional studies using the James Webb Space Telescope. Now the team’s next step is to study the planet’s atmosphere and find out if it is similar to Earth’s.
