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For the first time, water has been detected on an exoplanet orbiting in its star's habitable zone.
A new study by Professor Björn Benneke of the Institute for Research on Exoplanets at the Université de Montréal, his doctoral student Caroline Piaulet and several of their collaborators reports the detection of water vapour and perhaps even liquid water clouds in the atmosphere of the planet K2-18b.
The planet is nine times the mass of Earth and circling more closely to its smaller M3 dwarf star with, a year length of only 33 days. K2-18b "receives virtually the same amount of total radiation from its host star" as Earth.
Scientists currently believe that the thick gaseous envelope of K2-18b likely prevents life as we know it from existing on the planet's surface.
Still, according to Professor Benneke "This represents the biggest step yet taken towards our ultimate goal of finding life on other planets, of proving that we are not alone."
Journal Reference
Björn Benneke, Ian Wong, Caroline Piaulet, Heather A. Knutson, Ian J.M. Crossfield, Joshua Lothringer, Caroline V. Morley, Peter Gao, Thomas P. Greene, Courtney Dressing, Diana Dragomir, Andrew W. Howard, Peter R. McCullough, Eliza M.-R. Kempton Jonathan J. Fortney, Jonathan Fraine. Water Vapor on the Habitable-Zone Exoplanet K2-18b. Astronomical Journal (submitted), 2019 [link]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 12 2019, @09:31PM (10 children)
Is it possible for a less dense, or larger planet; which has a greater mass, to still have 1 G at the surface?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2019, @09:39PM (2 children)
The equation is just: g = G*m/r^2
If you increase m by 9x you need to increase the radius by 81x, etc.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday September 12 2019, @11:03PM (1 child)
Me thinks you'll find that if you increase the mass by 9x you only have to go to a radius of 3x to get the same g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 13 2019, @02:59AM
I accept your peer review as correct.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2019, @09:50PM (6 children)
Higher amounts of water could lower density, but too much and it could become an ocean world.
At some point the planet could become big enough to capture too much gas and become a mini-Neptune with harsh surface conditions. The radius would increase and you can't be sure about how much of the planet is solid, liquid, or gas.
The good news is that a super earth could have multiple earth masses and still have a gravity between 1g and 2g. Humans could adapt to something like 1.25g easily. With genetic engineering humans could be rebuilt to tolerate higher gravity with less broken bones and heart failure.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 13 2019, @01:21AM (5 children)
Based on human's joints and heart problems, we are probably form a planet with Mars's gravity of the surface. Based on our problems with sun tan, we are probably from a red dwarf star. It makes sense as the combination is likely the most common in the galaxy.
Besides, we may simply be from Mars - it fits our biology as well.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday September 13 2019, @01:59AM
And here's our old white male... (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Friday September 13 2019, @05:35AM
Wut.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday September 13 2019, @10:14AM (2 children)
> Besides, we may simply be from Mars - it fits our biology as well.
Only if you regard breathing as optional.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 13 2019, @05:47PM
Perhaps, we just forgot about "the planet" at some point of industrialization and then simply moved on. https://www.space.com/23595-ancient-mars-oceans-nasa-video.html [space.com]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday September 15 2019, @10:11AM
As long as one can keep the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood within the normal physiological limits, breathing is indeed optional.
(see also extra corporeal membrane oxygenation [nih.gov]
For other interesting things, see liquid ventilation [oup.com])
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford