Pollution, coronavirus, government problems, riots, overpopulation, etc., Earth has a lot on its plate. If you've been thinking about changing planets and thought the idea's ridiculous, it is not anymore. On Thursday, June 4, scientists found an exoplanet that has similar qualities with Earth. It has the same star, but almost twice bigger than our planet.
Scientists found Earth 2.0
Astrophysicist René Heller of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany wants to know whether there are any planets out there that have the same qualities as Earth. To identify this, he and his team investigated the planets around Kepler-160.
Kepler-160 is a Super-Earth planet that orbits a G-type star. It is 3,000 light-years away from the Earth. Though it is far, scientists believe that this Super-Earth holds another exoplanet that nearly copies the qualities were sharing now on the planet.
The team published a study on Thursday, June 4, wherein it states that an exoplanet found along Kepler-160 can give new habitat for humans on the planet.
This exoplanet was described as KOI-456.04. According to their report, this exoplanet is "more than just another potentially habitable world," they also believed that the light coming from its star "is very much like the daylight seen on our home planet." KOI-456.04 also shares the same orbital period with Earth.
Unlike Earth, though, the exoplanet has a bigger size. Scientists said that "KOI-456.01 is relatively large compared to many other planets that are considered potentially habitable. But it's the combination of this less-than-double the size of the Earth planet and its solar-type host star that makes it so special and familiar."
Since KOI-456.04 already assures human's necessity for sunlight, another thing that it copies from Earth has possible liquid water on its surface. That means if you're going to transfer from Earth to KOI-456.04, living won't be a problem for humans.
Unfortunately, this is not as easy as you think it is.
We can't still be sure on KOI-456.04
Yes, scientists found very similar characteristics of KOI-456.04 to our planet. However, this doesn't mean that humans can just trip a rocket unto this exoplanet and live there forever.
Heller discussed that Kepler-160-- wherein the KOI-456.04 was located-- is too far away to be visited by humans. Aside from that, the scientists also said that they weren't yet 100% sure that this exoplanet can be scientifically called a planet at all.
"It cannot currently be ruled out completely that KOI-456.04 is in fact a statistical fluke or a systematic measurement error instead of a genuine planet," the institute said, though the team estimates there's an 85% chance it is indeed a planet.
Still, its good to have an option, right?
