Liked on YouTube: One In A Million Super Earth Discovered In The Center Of Our Galaxy!

One In A Million Super Earth Discovered In The Center Of Our Galaxy!
From what the planet is like, to what it means to us back here on Earth, and more! Join me as I reveal to you a One in a Million Super Earth discovered in the Center of the Galaxy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe for more videos:https://www.youtube.com/c/InsaneCuriosity?sub_confirmation=1? Business Enquiries: lorenzovareseaziendale@gmail.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you all hopefully know, astronomers of all kinds are working around the clock, looking into space to see what else is out there in terms of not just stars, but planets. The search for an exoplanet that is like Earth is honestly one of the top priorities of astronomers outside of just generally exploring space itself. As a result, we're constantly finding new things that excites just about everyone involved, including the recent finding of a "one in a million Super Earth". Astronomers at the University of Canterbury (UC) have found an incredibly rare new Super-Earth planet towards the centre of the galaxy. The planet is one of only a handful that have been discovered with both size and orbit comparable to that of Earth. Which is obviously two factors that play a key role in dictating whether the planet is worthy of immediate study or not. Lead researchers in the discovery, astronomers Dr Antonio Herrera Martin and Associate Professor Michael Albrow, both of UC’s School of Physical and Chemical Sciences in the College of Science, are part of an international team of astronomers who collaborated on the Super-Earth research. Dr Herrera Martin, the paper’s lead author, describes the planet-finding discovery as incredibly rare. “To have an idea of the rarity of the detection, the time it took to observe the magnification due to the host star was approximately five days, while the planet was detected only during a small five-hour distortion. After confirming this was indeed caused by another ‘body’ different from the star, and not an instrumental error, we proceeded to obtain the characteristics of the star-planet system,” he says. So, what exactly are the specs of the system that makes it so interesting? Let's start with the planet first, ok? First and foremost, the reason it's called a "Super Earth" is because it's a planet that is bigger than our own in terms of size and mass. At present, it's not easy to determine just how big the planet really is, but, based on estimations, it's believed to be between the size of Earth and Neptune. Thus, again, a Super Earth. What also makes it interesting, as well as rare, is that not only is the size just a little different than our own Earth, but the orbit of the planet is one that is also very close to our own Earth. The distance between a star and the planet orbiting it heavily influences what it is like. Our own Earth is able to have water and life because it is in a near perfect position to both get the suns heat, while not being bombarded by radiation and a whole bunch of other terrible things that we can see planets like Venus and Mars getting and not getting. The position of this Super Earth puts it in a rotation around the star that is close to where Venus and Earth revolve around it, thus making it truly special and rare. Even the way it was found in the first place was special. Study lead author Antonia Herrera-Martin, also of the University of Canterbury, said the planet was discovered using a technique called "gravitational microlensing." “The combined gravity of the planet and its host star caused the light from a more distant background star to be magnified in a particular way," he said. "We used telescopes distributed around the world to measure the light-bending effect.” I can tell that you're sensing a "but", right? Good, because there is one. Mainly, the "but" is that of not the planet, but the star itself. Based on the research done on this system near the center of the galaxy, the star that this Super Earth is revolving around is just 10% of our own sun. Which is bad because that means its "power output" if you will isn't nearly enough for a Super Earth like the one that we have here. As such, the planet is not in the "habitable zone" that our own Earth is in, and thus isn't a truly ripe candidate for exploration. "Although it’s not too much bigger than Earth, and orbiting its star at a similar distance, this planet would be very cold because its star is smaller than the sun and emits much less light," study co-author Michael Abrow of New Zealand's University of Canterbury told USA TODAY. "Water could not exist in a liquid state and the likelihood of life would be very low," he said. "Only a very few planets have been detected that may have suitable conditions for life." #InsaneCuriosity #SuperEarth #Exoplanets
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