The discovery of Gliese 12 b, a planet similar to Venus and only 40 light-years away, offers new perspectives for understanding life-supporting conditions in the universe. This ‘evil twin’ receives significantly more radiation from its star than Earth, raising intriguing questions for future research with advanced telescopes. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Recent findings from a Venus-like planet, Gliese 12 b, further our search for life-supporting planets and provide a closer look at Earth’s potential “evil twins.”
The discovery of a planet similar to Venus around a star near our solar system raises hopes that astronomers will one day unravel the secret of why life appeared on Earth.
The study of life in the universe is difficult because we have only one example of a planet on which life has been confirmed: Earth. It is difficult to say which features of the Earth are necessary for life to appear, and which are irrelevant. Until we find an “Earth twin” wherever conditions for life appeared, astronomers are best off studying “evil twins,” planets with initial conditions similar to Earth’s that turned out very differently, with environments unsuitable for to live.
Insights into the solar system and distant discoveries
In the solar system, Venus and Mars give two examples of inanimate ‘evil twins’. But with only two examples, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how strict or lax the living conditions might be. Since the 1990s, more than 5,500 planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than the Sun. However, most of these planets are hundreds of light years away from Earth, making it challenging to study them in detail.
Close encounter with Gliese 12 b
In this research, the team found and characterized a new planet, named Gliese 12 b, based on data from NASA’s TESS space telescope; the MuSCAT2 and MuSCAT3 cameras, developed by the Astrobiology Center (ABC) in Japan and the University of Tokyo; and the Subaru Telescope of Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory. Gliese 12 b is close to the solar system, only 40 light-years away toward the Pisces concentration. This makes Gliese 12 b an ideal target to study with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and future 30-meter class telescopes.
Characteristics and potential of Gliese 12 b
So far, the international team led by scientists from the Astrobiology Center of Japan, the University of Tokyo, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have discovered that Gliese 12 b has an orbital period, that is, one year on the planet, of only 12.8 days. The planet has a radius that is only 4% smaller than the radius of Earth, and less than 3.9 times the mass of Earth. Gliese 12 b receives 1.6 times more radiation from its parent star than Earth receives from the Sun. By comparison, Venus receives 1.9 times more radiation than Earth.
Conclusion and future research
Based on this data, the team believes Gliese 12 b is an “evil twin,” more similar to Venus than Earth. But they cannot rule out the possibility that Gliese 12 b is an ‘Earth twin’ with liquid water on its surface. Further observations will reveal whether Gliese 12 b is an ‘evil twin’ or an ‘Earth twin’. In either case, studying Gliese 12 b will give us a better idea of the conditions for a life-friendly environment on a planet.
For more information about this discovery, see TESS’s Latest Discovery Could Change Our Search for Alien Worlds.
Reference: “Gliese 12 b: a temperate Earth-sized planet with 12 pct. Ideal for Atmospheric Transmission Spectroscopy” by Masayuki Kuzuhara, Akihiko Fukui, John H. Livingston, José A. Caballero, Jerome P. de Leon, Teruyuki Hirano, Yui Kasagi , Felipe Murgas, Norio Narita, Masashi Omiya, Jaume Orell-Miquel, Enric Palle , Quentin Changeat, Emma Esparza-Borges, Hiroki Harakawa, Coel Hellier, Yasunori Hori, Kai Ikuta, Hiroyuki Tako Ishikawa, Takanori Kodama, Takayuki Kotani, Tomoyuki Kudo , Juan C. Morales, Mayuko Mori, Evangelos Nagel, Hannu Parviainen, Volker Perdelwitz , Ansgar Reiners, Ignasi Ribas, Jorge Sanz-Forcada, Bun’ei Sato, Andreas Schweitzer, Hugo M. Tabernero, Takuya Takarada, Taichi Uyama, Noriharu Watanabe , Mathias Zechmeister, Néstor Abreu García, Wako Aoki, Charles Beichman, Víctor JS Béjar , Timothy D. Brandt, Yéssica Calatayud-Borras, Ilaria Carleo, David Charbonneau, Karen A. Collins, Thayne Currie, John P. Doty, Stefan Dreizler, Gareb Fernández-Rodríguez, Izuru Fukuda, Daniel Galán, Samuel Geraldía-González, Josafat González-Garcia, Yuya Hayashi, Christina Hedges, Thomas Henning, Klaus Hodapp, Masahiro Ikoma, Keisuke Isogai, Shane Jacobson, Markus Janson, Jon M. Jenkins, Taiki Kagetani, Eiji Kambe, Yugo Kawai, Kiyoe Kawauchi, Eiichiro Kokubo, Mihoko Konishi , Judith Korth, Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy, Takashi Kurokawa, Nobuhiko Kusakabe, Jungmi Kwon, Andrés Laza-Ramos, Florence Libotte, Rafael Luque, Alberto Madrigal-Aguado, Yuji Matsumoto, Dimitri Mawet, Michael W. McElwain, Pedro Pablo Meni Gallardo, Giuseppe Morello , Sara Muñoz Torres, Jun Nishikawa, Stevanus K. Nugroho, Masahiro Ogihara, Alberto Peláez-Torres, David Rapetti, Manuel Sánchez-Benavente, Martin Schlecker, Sara Seager, Eugene Serabyn, Takuma Serizawa, Monika Stangret, Aoi Takahashi, Huan-Yu Teng, Motohide Tamura, Yuka Terada, Akitoshi Ueda, Tomonori Usuda, Roland Vanderspek, Sébastien Vievard, David Watanabe, Joshua N. Winn and Maria Rosa Zapatero Osorio, May 23, 2024, The Astrophysical diary letters.
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad3642
Funding: Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, the European Union and the State Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Center of Excellence “ Severo Ochoa’ and ‘Maria de Maeztu’ Prize, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Academic Mission Service, Margarita Salas Fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Universities, Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, Swedish National Space Agency, Swedish Research Council, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Aviation and Space Management NExSS.