Canada Aviation and Space Museum
Atmosphere Found Around Earth-like Planet GJ 1132b
Atmosphere found around Earth-like planet GJ 1132b.
Astronomers from Keele University, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and others, have discovered the first atmosphere around an Earth-sized planet. The planet, GJ1132b is about 1.4x Earth's diameter and 39 light years away from us. Currently there are over 3000 known planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, but only a handful of which have been confirmed to have atmospheres, and all of which are massive Jupiter-sized planets. In the ongoing quest to find a planet similar to Earth, this team of scientists have confirmed for the first time an Earth-sized exoplanet that has an atmosphere. They even measured that it has a composition of 'water, methane, or mixture of both.' Don't get your hopes up though, the temperature there is over 300 degrees Celsius. This discovery, coupled with that of 7 Earth-sized planets around the star TRAPPIST-1 in February 2017, hint at the possibility of planets similar to Earth are common in the Galaxy.
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Atmosphere Found Around Earth-like Planet GJ 1132b
Jesse Rogerson, PhD
Jesse is a passionate scientist, educator, and science communicator. As an assistant professor at York University in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society, he teaches three classes: History of Astronomy, Introduction to Astronomy, and Exploring the Solar System. He frequently collaborates with the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and lends his expert voice to the Ingenium Channel. Jesse is an astrophysicist, and his research explores how super massive black holes evolve through time. Whether in the classroom, through social media, or on TV, he encourages conversations about how science and society intersect, and why science is relevant in our daily lives.
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