A team of astronomers has discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a star 4,000 light-years away from the Solar System, potentially providing insight into Earth’s distant future. This rocky planet, with a mass similar to Earth, revolves around a white dwarf in the constellation Sagittarius.
This discovery brings a ray of hope for Earth’s survival as our Sun enters its final phase. This suggests that Earth could potentially avoid being consumed by the expanding Sun, opening up the possibility of human migration to the outer Solar System, to moons such as Europa, Callisto and Ganymede around Jupiter or Enceladus near Saturn for future generations. Can become a potential shelter for. ,
What is a white dwarf?
A white dwarf is the remnant left after a star has exhausted its nuclear fuel and shed its outer layers. It symbolizes the ultimate fate of the Sun. As the Sun runs out of nuclear fuel, the Sun will turn into a red giant, then shrink into a white dwarf. The extent of its expansion will determine which planets in the Solar System will be hit by it – Mercury and Venus are likely to be incinerated. But what about the earth?
In a study published in Nature Astronomy, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley used the Keck Telescope in Hawaii to observe the system, designated KMT-2020-BLG-0414. The system consists of a white dwarf star with an Earth-sized planet orbiting the star at twice the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Next to the planet is a brown dwarf – a planet about 17 times the mass of Jupiter.
This discovery supports the theory that as the Sun expands into a red giant, its loss of mass will push the planets into more distant orbits. This event may allow Earth to avoid destruction. “Whether life could survive on Earth during that (red giant) period is unknown. But of course, the most important thing is that Earth is illuminated by the Sun,” said Jessica Lu, associate professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley. It doesn’t get swallowed when it becomes a red giant.”
future of earth
“At the moment we don’t have a consensus on whether the Earth will survive being hit by a red giant Sun in six billion years,” said lead author Keming Zhang, a former UC Berkeley doctoral student who is now the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Professor of Physics. Can.” AI Postdoctoral Fellow in Science at UC San Diego.
“In any case, planet Earth will remain habitable only for the next billion years, at which time Earth’s oceans will evaporate from the greenhouse effect – long before the risk of being swallowed by the red giant.”
Can humanity find refuge beyond Earth? As the Sun turns into a red giant, the habitable zone in the Solar System will shift outward to the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Many of their moons, such as Europa and Callisto, may become ocean worlds capable of supporting life. “Humanity could migrate there,” Zhang suggested.
