The hunt for a twin Earth is quickly gaining ground as scientists make a series of amazing announcements the past few weeks showcasing the discovery of the closest and most Earth-like planets along with a near twin of our solar system.
Astronomers are excited by the new-found, yet familiar-looking planetary system some 200 light years away called HP 11915. The finding took researchers by surprise, since out of more than 1200 planetary systems discovered to date, not one could match our own solar system in terms of architecture. Most appear to sport large planets many times the mass of Earth close to their stars, whereas in our solar system the small rocky planets are in the inner regions, while the larger gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn are scattered much further out.
At the heart of the new system is a sun-like star that hosts a gas giant planet astronomers believe is very much like our own Jupiter. The planet appears to orbit about the same distance as Jupiter, and scientists believe there is also a strong possibility of it having small Earth-like neighbours too.
With a twin Jupiter around a twin Sun, which has an internal make-up closely resembleing our Sun, scientists say it’s possible they’ll find orbiting rocky planets in that system – and there’s the potential for life, too.
Recent theories indicate that the formation of our own life-bearing Earth was made possible in part thanks to the large gravitational pull of Jupiter, which redirected countless number of hazardous comets and asteroids that might have otherwise hit Earth, wiping out all life. Essentially, Jupiter gave life on our planet a chance to evolve undisturbed for millions of years.
The Brazilian team of astronomers believes that now we can say with some confidence that our solar system may not be a unique one off in the universe but instead there may be many more solar system twins waiting to be discovered.
Jorge Melendez of the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, who is the leader of the team and co-author of the newly published paper, says “the quest for an Earth 2.0, and for a complete solar system 2.0, is one of the most exciting endeavours in astronomy.”
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http://www.interstellar-news.net/2015/08/the-search-for-sister-earth-rockets.html
