A watery world in a cozy spot
If planets were products their price would be tumbling. Little more than a generation ago, we knew of only eight planets in all the universe—the ones within our own solar system. Only two of them, Earth and Mars, were plausibly capable of supporting life and only one of those definitely does. Planetary demand far exceeded supply.
“From today onwards, we know K2-18b has atmosphere and water, making it the best known candidate for habitability,” says Angelos Tsiaris, a UCL research associate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the lead author of the Nature paper. Story continuesThat combination of diameter and mass put the planet in the category known as super-Earths — bigger than our comparatively small world; smaller than gas giants like Jupiter and Neptune; and likely to have a solid, rocky surface. In terms of life, that’s a good start. But K2-18b’s zippy orbit could also present problems. In order to complete a revolution so fast, the planet had to be situated very close to its sun—just 13 million miles away, the Kepler scientists calculated.
“The measurements involved were extremely difficult,” says Tsiaris. “Like trying to identify one person in a crowd of ten thousand.”
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