space. Possible ‘ocean’ planet discovered: What you need to know

“We continue to have a wonderful time discovering all these intriguing things,” said Jill Dawidowicz, Vice President of Inc. French Astronomical Society Chairman of the Planetary Committee.

After the James Webb Telescope observed an exoplanet whose atmosphere is made up partly of carbon dioxide, And we can see Planet shaped rugby ballthis time they are Canadian scientists from the University of Montreal and the Institute for Exoplanet Research, Those who have discovered a planet think it is completely covered with water.

“It’s unheard of in those proportions, either in our solar system or elsewhere,” the vice president says.

Mass consisting of 20 to 30% water. land 1%

Located in the constellation of the Dragon, in 100 light yearsor 950,000 billion kilometers of our good old earth, the mass of this planet with the beautiful temporary name TOI-1452bit would, according to Charles Cadio, one of the discoverers, be composed of water in heterogeneous proportions: between 20 and 30%.

For comparison, the mass of our blue planet, which is 72% covered by water, is barely made up of 1% H2O.

The exoplanet TOI-1452 b may be as rocky as Earth, but its radius, mass, and density suggest it would be a very different world from ours.

little bit bigger and bigger Than Earth (about 70% larger and five times more massive), according to Charles Kedio, this exoplanet has a sun called TOI-1452. This one, smaller than ours, will warm up “at temperatures that are neither too hot nor too cold”.

“If we assume that the atmosphere of this exoplanet is similar to our atmosphere, and that it is indeed water, then that means It ranges from 0 to 100 degrees.says Jill Dawidowicz.

Is there a tidal phenomenon like in the movie Interstellar ?

However, it is not known whether one or more moons are present and applies the phenomenon of tides to TOI-1452b.

If so, the tides might be massive, like the tides in the movie Interstellar, occur on this outer planet. But that’s pretty cool at the moment, because it’s impossible to confirm.

And what about life?

Again, it is impossible to answer. “The presence of water does not necessarily mean the presence of life,” says Gil Dawidowicz.

Even if we suspected it was water, it could be very salty, radioactive, and therefore sterile…

On the other hand, one can well imagine Whether there is or will be of life there. “Nothing is impossible,” he recalls.

So many questions that James Webb can answer

At the moment, it is only certain the fact that this exoplanet is covered with liquid. “It could be a completely different liquid, and that would change everything,” said the chair of the Planetary Science Committee.

By the same token, if we realized that the atmosphere is not at all the same on Earth, that would change a lot of things, in particular in temperature “At the summit of Everest, water boils at 60 degrees Celsius,” he recalls.

But this information, the James Webb telescope that he just has Take beautiful pictures of Jupiter, able to bring it to us. “This will attract the attention of astronomers, who will want to learn more. In the coming weeks, we must learn more,” he explains.

And then, as a reminder, there are billions of exoplanets. Perhaps one day we will find sunless planets, huge asteroids, very special shapes… There are still plenty of things to discover. looking forward.

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