Astronomers discover potential habitable exoplanet only 31 light-years from Earth

[Admin]

Wolf 1069 b offers a unique opportunity to study a potentially habitable and tidally locked exoplanet.

Astronomers discover potential habitable exoplanet only 31 light-years from Earth : Read more

 

[rod]

https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.02477, the reference is interesting reading. The exoplanet properties can be seen now at this site, http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/wolf_1069_b/

The exoplanet atmosphere site presently shows nothing for the atmosphere or molecules for Wolf 1069 b, http://research.iac.es/proyecto/exoatmospheres/table.php

Space.com published past reports on exoplanets that are in the habitable zone and perhaps could be earthlike.

Two potentially habitable Earth-like worlds orbit a star in our cosmic backyard

Astronomers have discovered two Earth-like exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf near our solar system that orbit their star with respective 'years' lasting just 10 and 21 days. Two potentially habitable Earth-like worlds orbit a star in our cosmic backyard : Read more

forums.space.com

https://www.space.com/30172-six-most-earth-like-alien-planets.html, The 10 most Earth-like exoplanets

Other sources document them too. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022arXiv221002484H/abstract

[2210.02484] A Catalog of Habitable Zone Exoplanets

So far, efforts to define various exoplanets in their HZ around their parent stars, and demonstrate that they are like Earth, or even with life remain unconfirmed.

 

[rod]

I did some more who, what, when, where, how, and why digging into wolf 1069 b exoplanet. Here is what I found:

Astronomers find rare Earth-mass rocky planet suitable for the search for signs of life, https://phys.org/news/2023-02-astronomers-rare-earth-mass-rocky-planet.html

ref - The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. Wolf 1069 b: Earth-mass planet in the habitable zone of a nearby, very low-mass star, https://www.aanda.org/component/article?access=doi&doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202245322, 21-Dec-2022.

My observation. From the phys.org report I note here about Wolf 1069 b.

“According to the study, the surface of the dwarf star is relatively cool and thus appears orange-reddish. "As a result, the so-called habitable zone is shifted inwards," Kossakowski explains. Despite its close distance to the central star, the planet Wolf 1069 b therefore receives only about 65% of the incident radiant power of what Earth receives from the sun. These special conditions make planets around red dwarf stars like Wolf 1069 potentially friendly to life. In addition, they may all share a special property. Their rotation is probably tidally locked to the orbit of its host star. In other words, the star always faces the same side of the planet. So there is eternal day, while on the other side it is always night. This is also the reason why we always face the same side of the moon. If Wolf 1069 b is assumed to be a bare and rocky planet, the average temperature even on the side facing the star would be just minus 23 degrees Celsius. However, according to existing knowledge, it is quite possible that Wolf 1069 b has formed an atmosphere. Under this assumption its temperature could have increased to plus 13 degrees, as computer simulations with climate models show. Under these circumstances, water would remain liquid and life-friendly conditions could prevail, because life as we know it depends on water. An atmosphere is not only a precondition for the emergence of life from a climatic point of view. It would also protect Wolf 1069 b from high-energy electromagnetic radiation and particles that would destroy possible biomolecules. The radiation and particles either stem from interstellar space or from the central star. If the star's radiation is too intense, it can also strip off a planet's atmosphere, as it did for Mars. But as red dwarf, Wolf 1069 emits only relatively weak radiation. Thus, an atmosphere may have been preserved on the newly discovered planet. It is even possible that the planet has a magnetic field that protects it from charged stellar wind particles.”

My note. This seems like the Faint Young Sun problem for Earth and Mars, efforts to show how such weak star radiation, about 65% of the Sun’s present value could allow a livable and habitable exoplanet. At some point in science, the evolutionary model interpretations must be replaced with *necessary demonstration* from nature as the heliocentric astronomers were required to do when debating the geocentric astronomers.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I am wondering what those models show for the distribution of climate types on such tidally locked stars.

I would expect water to evaporate on the lighted side and rise with warm gases, which would flow to the dark side of the planet at higher altitudes while colder gases form the dark side flowed counter-direction beneath it to replace the rising gases on the hot side.

So, eventually, I would expect the water to all end-up as ice on the dark side, with a hot, dry dessert on the lighted side.

What happens in the "twilight zone" between those 2 major areas seems to be where life might or might not have any chance to develop and evolve.

And, considering how substantial climatic changes in Earth's enviroment seen to have pushed evolution towards more mobile and intelligent creatures, I am wondering if life on a tidally locked planet would evolve toward anything Earth-like.

 

[Helio]

I am wondering what those models show for the distribution of climate types on such tidally locked stars.

I would expect water to evaporate on the lighted side and rise with warm gases, which would flow to the dark side of the planet at higher altitudes while colder gases form the dark side flowed counter-direction beneath it to replace the rising gases on the hot side.

So, eventually, I would expect the water to all end-up as ice on the dark side, with a hot, dry dessert on the lighted side.

What happens in the "twilight zone" between those 2 major areas seems to be where life might or might not have any chance to develop and evolve.

And, considering how substantial climatic changes in Earth's enviroment seen to have pushed evolution towards more mobile and intelligent creatures, I am wondering if life on a tidally locked planet would evolve toward anything Earth-like.

I think that is how these exo’s are viewed. There are those who think, however, that things like jet streams could add balance to both sides of the planet.

I suspect tidal-lock effects may prove minor to the tantrum effects known for red dwarfs. Like small feisty dogs, these stars seem to all have bad behavior. But the studies are still few since these very dim stars are so hard to observe.

 

[rod]

For the record. Wolf 1069 b is orbiting a red dwarf star, about 0.167 solar mass. I used the exoplanet.eu site and looked at spectral type column. 5310 exoplanets and 3281 show null records for spectral type. Using MS ACCESS SQL query, I found 440 exoplanets that indicated red dwarf host stars for their parent stars, spectral type M. TRAPPIST-1 system and Wolf 1069 b report for this query too. Stellar mass ranges 0.0154 solar mass to 0.87 solar mass is a likely range to look at. Some show host star masses larger than 1 solar mass in the query return (so I ignore those) and eliminate exoplanets in the list where host star mass is a null record, that gives me 399 exoplanets moving around potential red dwarf stars using this method.

That is a good red dwarf host exoplanet list to work from A trend I notice in reports like Wolf 1069 b et al. Planet x shows up in the news cycle as a hopeful earth-like planet or perhaps habitable and livable. After a period of time, planet x disappears from the reporting cycle

Edit, *planet x disappears from the reporting cycle to the public*