NASA planet hunter finds Earth-size habitable-zone exoplanet

Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-08 01:48:18|Editor: ZX
Video PlayerClose

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- NASA's planet-hunting satellite TESS has discovered its first Earth-size planet in its star's habitable zone, according to NASA scientists attending the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu.

They used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to confirmed the planet called TOI 700 d. Its distance to the host star is just right to allow the presence of liquid water on the surface, according to NASA.

TOI 700 d, one of only a few Earth-size planets discovered in a star's habitable zone so far, is a small, cool M dwarf star located just over 100 light years away in the southern constellation Dorado. It's roughly 40 percent of the sun's mass and size and about half its surface temperature.

The planet measures 20 percent larger than Earth, orbits every 37 days and receives from its star 86 percent of the energy that the sun provides to Earth, according to the study.

The exact conditions on TOI 700 d are unknown, but scientists generated multiple predictive models. One simulation included an ocean-covered planet with a dense, carbon-dioxide-dominated atmosphere similar to what scientists suspect surrounded Mars when it was young.

Another model depicts it as a cloudless, all-land version of modern Earth, where winds flow away from the night side of the planet and converge on the point directly facing the star.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011100001386860481
国产无码在线观看免费在线,37pao国产成视频,日韩一区二区视频在线,国产国产人免费人成免费视频麻豆
思思99热综合在线观看 | 制服丝袜国产中文亚洲 | 亚洲另类欧美与日本 | 一区中文字幕在线日本 | 午夜福利视频韩国19禁 | 中文一区二区三区欧美在线 |