They discovered two twin exoplanets that may be made of water

Scientists from the University of Montreal have found evidence for the existence of two exoplanets made up the bulk of their testimony Water.

These stars are in the planetary system kepler-138 219 light years away, in the constellation Lyra, they are unlike any other planet in our solar system.

Investigation

The study was led by Caroline Piolet of the Trottier Institute for Exoplanet Research at the University of Montreal. It was published in the magazine astronomy of nature.

The group discovered new information about exoplanets Kepler-138 c D Kepler-138d thanks to the observations of the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes. They were originally detected by the Kepler telescope, whose radar also detected Kepler-138 b.

The study indicates that by comparing the masses and sizes of the planets with established models, it can be concluded that a significant part, almost 50%, could consist of Water.

This approximation is not definitive, since these materials must be lighter than stone, but heavier than hydrogen or helium. The most common of these possible cases is Water.

“We used to think that planets that were slightly larger than Earth were big balls of metal and stone, like scaled copies of the Earth, and so we called them super-Earths,” explained Bjorn Bennecke, co-author of the study and professor of astrophysics. at the University of Montreal. “However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138cydvery different in nature and that the greater part of their total volume probably consists of Water. So far, this is the best evidence for the existence of worlds. Watera class of planets whose existence has been theoretically postulated by astronomers for a long time.”

Both planets have a volume nearly three times the size of the Earth and more than twice its mass.

You must keep your emotions

The researchers note that the planets, if they have water, they may not have oceans directly on their surface.

“Temperature in the atmosphere Kepler-138d probably above the boiling point Water, and we would expect to see a thick, dense vapor atmosphere on this planet. Only in this vaporous atmosphere could there be Water high pressure liquid or even water in the other phase, which occurs at high pressures, is called supercritical fluid,” Piole said.

Added to these two worlds is a third found in the current study, Kepler-138 e, which lies within the habitable zone, allowing for the existence of Water liquid. But few details are known about him, as he does not seem to pass in front of his star.

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