A satellite in the habitable zone has been find out in our galactic neighborhood . The planet and its headliner do n’t look a lot like our own system , but they map thesecondclosest known opportunity for liquid water at the surface of another world . The star in question is thought to have a unfeignedly remarkable history .
Kapteyn ’s Staris a red dwarf 13 light years from the Sun . While an tremendous distance by terrestrial criterion , this name it the 25th closest star system to us out of the hundreds of millions in galax . Although intrinsically very faint , its closeness means it can be find with binoculars near Canopus in the southern sky . The star is named for Jacobus Kapteyn who remark in 1898 how speedily it is moving across the sky , its 8 arc minute exceeded only byBarnard ’s Star .
Now two “ superearths ” have been reported in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ( report not yet online ) to orb it . The discovery was made using theDoppler wobblemethod and three of the Earth ’s large telescopes .
" We were surprised to happen planet orbiting Kapteyn ’s whizz , " said team drawing card Guillem Anglada - Escude of Queen Mary University , London . " Previous data demonstrate some temperate excess of variability , so we were looking for very short period planets when the new sign prove up loud and clear . "
Kapteyn c has an orbit of 121 day , but the star ’s low-toned luminosity is expected to make this too frigid for H2O at the control surface . However , it is Kapteyn b that is really generating excitement . Its 48 solar day orbit is scant than Mercury , but with such a dim star this translates to temperature suited to limpid urine .
Sadly , the prospects of complex life history on a world such as this have justtaken a hit , with evidence astral winds would strip the atmosphere . On the plus side , Kapteyn b has five times Earth ’s mass , bolster prospects for a more magnetic shield potent enough to render protection . Kapteyn ’s star is reckon to be 11.5 billion years sure-enough , chip in plenty of time for life to acquire if condition are harsh rather than impossible .
PHL / UPR Arecibo / Aladin Sky Atlas A comparison of Kapteyn b and Earth .
If levelheaded life has managed to seem on Kapteyn b it has been offer a very interesting prospect of the local universe . Kapteyn ’s Star is part of a group that originated in a gnome beetleweed , probably the one that once surrounded globular clusterOmega Centauri . A dramatic three body fundamental interaction expelled it from its home to move the 16,000 loose long time to become aretrograde galactic halo objectthat came within 7 light years of the Sunday 10,000 long time ago .
spheric bunch are home to very honest-to-god stars , and Kapteyn ’s Star proffer us a rare chance for a close - up view of an object that probably dates to just two billion years after the formation of the macrocosm . In sustain with its advanced age Kapteyn ’s Star has only 14 % of the concentration of metals as the sun . One of the major questions in planetary work is whether suchlow alloy stars are likelyto have planets .
“ It does make you wonder what form of life could have evolve on those planets over such a long time , " said Anglada - Escude .
PHL / UPR Arecibo / Aladin Sky Atlas The horizon from Kapteyn b shortly after it was thrown out of the gnome Galax urceolata in which it was born .
