Scientists have discovered a rocky exoplanet that might have all the conditions necessary to sustain human life. According to scientists from the European Space Observatory (ESO), the planet’s distance from the star, L 98-59, can allow water to flow on its surface. The planet has been spotted in the Volans.
The exoplanet is located in the habitable zone (Goldilocks) of its solar system. Astronomers believe that life can survive in this zone. Another unconfirmed planet lies a distance from the star and might also have the ability to support life. The planets found in this solar system seem to resemble the first four planets of our own, that is, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
According to Professor Maria Osorio, a study co-author from the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid, the planet’s atmosphere could support life.
Scientists have spotted three other planets in the system. However, two of them are dry and barren. The third is an ocean world with about 30% of water though it might to too warm for life to exist.
These discoveries have come with astronomers trying to find extraterrestrial life. The information found so far comes from data gathered by ESO’s Very large telescope (VLT) in Chile.
It will take some time before the astronomers can detect life on these planets, as the team will need to study each of their atmospheres which the current telescopes cannot accomplish. However, the Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) might be able to achieve this by the end of the decade.
The planets in the L 98-59 systems will be the first to be studied. Scientists believe that the systems’ three inner planets might have water on their surface. The fifth might have water in its atmosphere.
The first three planets of the system were first seen in 2019 through the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in NASA, which studies light from stars further away from our system and tries to find dips in brightness that could be caused by an exoplanet moving in front of the star.
Scientists have so far discovered about 5,000 exoplanets. They speculate that the milky way could have about 100 million exoplanets.