Discover the ideal place for atmospheric research nearby

Researchers from Max Planck Institute of Astronomy In Germany, they led an international research, and the centers of the Advanced Scientific Research Council also participated in the research (China Industrial Standards Association), which makes the discovery Gliese 486b, This is an uninhabitable super-Earth 26 light-years away from the sun.

Its detection has been confirmed by two commonly used techniques for finding exoplanets (although it is rarely possible to use both at the same time): Transit, When a planet passes by a star, it will look for subtle changes in the brightness of the star, Radial velocity, It measures the “wobble” of a star by the gravitational force of a planet orbiting the planet.

Authors, who publish their findings in a magazine science, Treat Gliese 486b as Ideal candidate Find a atmosphere And to study it, and it may even become a kind of “Rosetta stone” in the future. Habitability The number of planets outside the solar system.

New Super Earth Gift Is 2.8 times the mass of our planet One number one 30% of mayors, So it is also a rocky planet. It revolves around the star in a circular orbit at a distance of 2.5 million kilometers every 1.5 days.

His sun is the star Red Dwarf Gliese 486, Much weaker and colder than the sun, but its proximity creates harsh conditions on the earth, the lowest surface temperature is about 430 degrees (700K).Calculations with atmospheric models of exoplanets show that it can save Dim atmosphereIt is an ideal choice for atmospheric research in the future.

An illustration of the super-earth Gliese 486b (with some data) orbiting its red dwarf star. /RenderArea

“This proximity of an exoplanet to the sun is exciting because it is possible to study it in more detail using telescopes such as the next-generation space telescope. James Webb y Extra Large Telescope (ELT)” Trifon TrifonovThe chief researcher of the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy.

For its part, another author, Jose Antonio CaballeroResearchers from the Center for Astrological Biology (CSIC-INTA) said: “The discovery of Gliese 486b is really lucky. If the temperature rises by one hundred degrees, its entire surface will be lava, and its atmosphere will be composed of vaporized rock. But if If the temperature drops by one hundred degrees, it is not suitable for follow-up observation.”

Use CARMENES and other instruments for testing

With the help of the data obtained by the instrument, the discovery and characterization of Gliese 486b becomes possible. Carmen, The spectrometer at the Calar Alto Observatory (Almería) and other instruments operating on land, such as Malong X At the Gemini North Telescope (Hawaii, USA) or MuSCAT2 In the Carlos Sanchez Telescope (Tenerife) and in space, for example TESS satellite.

Future measurements made by the CARMENES instrument team will try to determine with higher accuracy Orbital direction Planet. In addition, during the propagation in front of its star, a small portion of starlight passing through the assumed atmosphere will help determine the compound it contains.

The measurement will also pass llThis is possible because in the orbit of an exoplanet, the hemispherical area illuminated by the star is visible in the form of phases (similar to the moon, but planets in this case) until it disappears behind the red dwarf. The obtained spectrum will provide information about the condition of the hot planet’s surface.

The Carmenes (CARMENES) consortium consists of 11 research centers in Spain and Germany to observe a group of 350 red dwarfs to find planets similar to the Earth like Gliese 486b.

In this research, although it was led by the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy, it came from the Center for Astrobiology (CAB-INTA-CSIC), the Institute of Space Science (ICE-CSIC) and the Astrophysics of the Canary Islands Researchers from the Institute of Science (IAC) also participated in the research. Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics (IAA-CSIC) and Calaoao Observatory (CAHA).