NASA recently discovered an exciting new planet called a "Super-Earth," and it’s not too far from us in space terms! This planet is bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, and scientists think it might even have water on it, which is super important for life. It’s located in a nearby star system, just 37 light-years away, making it one of the closest planets of its kind. What's cool is that it orbits its star in the "habitable zone," where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist. Scientists are really curious about what the planet's atmosphere might be like and whether it could possibly support life. This find gets us one step closer to exploring planets beyond our solar system! #brightside Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/ Listen to Bright Side on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960 Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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00:00A new super-Earth has been spotted by astronomers, and it's quite intriguing.
00:05This planet, called TOI-715b, is about 1.5 the size of Earth, which is why it's called
00:12the super-Earth.
00:13It's also relatively close to us in space terms – only 137 light-years away.
00:20For comparison, most exoplanets are hundreds of light-years away.
00:24And all the interesting stuff, like black holes and nebulas, are usually more than thousands
00:29of light-years away from us.
00:31So could it be habitable?
00:35The habitable zone is an estimate of where a planet might have the right conditions for
00:39liquid water.
00:41This is what we call some distance from the star where the temperatures on the planet
00:45should be okay-ish, and water should stay liquid on its surface.
00:49It's not super-precise, because it depends on a bunch of factors like the type of star,
00:55how reflective the planet is, its size, and so on.
00:59Also, just being in this zone isn't enough for water to actually be there.
01:03The planet also needs the right kind of atmosphere and a few other things.
01:08So we invented a stricter definition in 2014 – the conservative habitable zone.
01:14It's a more precise term defining the best candidates that have liquid water.
01:19Otherwise, we get too many potentially habitable planets that are not actually habitable at
01:24all.
01:25The CHZ is based on how much energy a planet gets from its star compared to Earth.
01:31If a rocky planet gets between 40-85%, it's considered to be in the CHZ no matter how
01:38far away it is from its star.
01:41These planets have a higher chance of being habitable.
01:44And yes, TOI-715b is located there.
01:51This super-Earth orbits the M-type star, also called Red Dwarf.
01:55It's a star that's much smaller and cooler than our Sun – about a quarter of the Sun's
02:01size and mass.
02:02But if the planet is located in the habitable zone, it's actually a better option for
02:07life.
02:08Red Dwarfs live much longer than our Sun, a yellow dwarf.
02:12This also means that they have more time to form little creatures on their planets.
02:16And this Red Dwarf really is older than our star.
02:19Our Sun is 4.6 billion years old, and this star is 6.6 billion years old, give or take
02:26a few hundred million.
02:28It doesn't have much magnetic activity, so it's not dangerous.
02:32It doesn't flare up like younger Red Dwarfs.
02:35These flares can be super strong and might even hurt planets by taking away their atmospheres.
02:40Although some planets around it do have thinner atmospheres, it seems like this Red Dwarf
02:46has already gone all out.
02:48These Red Dwarfs are where we're looking for planets that could support life right
02:53now.
02:54Our Super Earth is really close to its star, zooming around it in just 19 days.
02:59Since the star is small and the planet is so close, the planet passing in front of its
03:04star happens a lot and looks really clear.
03:07This makes it easy for telescopes like the James Webb to study its atmosphere without
03:12needing too much time.
03:15Speaking of the James Webb Space Telescope, it's bringing us into a new era of understanding
03:20distant planets beyond our Solar System.
03:23Imagine being able to see what gases make up the air on a planet millions of light-years
03:28away.
03:29James Webb will help us to find worlds that could support life.
03:34Right now, it's trying to figure out whether TOI-715b has an atmosphere.
03:39If it does, its atmosphere might be easier to spot compared to a planet that's drier
03:44and denser.
03:46And then we might get even more height because it would look like a good place for life.
03:51On top of all that, there might be another planet in this system, also in the habitable
03:56zone.
03:57We're not sure whether it's really there, it's just a candidate with a crazy name.
04:02But if it turns out to be real, it would be about the size of Earth.
04:06Also, it would be the smallest planet in the habitable zone ever spotted by the TESS telescope.
04:14Another cool thing about TOI-715b is that it cannot just have water on it, but be an
04:21entire water world.
04:22An ocean planet is a type of planet that has an ocean covering its surface or has subsurface
04:28oceans.
04:29They might not have much dry land because the water can cover everything.
04:33Sometimes the entire planet can be covered in other liquids, like lava or ammonia.
04:39When it comes to planets outside our Solar System, we can't see surface water directly
04:43with our current technology.
04:45Instead, scientists look for water vapor in the atmosphere as a hint there might be liquid
04:51water below.
04:52And, of course, we wonder if these planets can have life, hopefully not in the form of
04:57Leviathan-like monsters.
04:59Our models show that planets with oceans might be pretty common in our galaxy.
05:04This means there could be lots of ocean worlds out there waiting to be discovered.
05:11But the most important part about TOI-715b is that it's in the so-called small planet
05:18radius gap.
05:20If we give the planets a lineup, there will be those that are bigger and smaller than
05:24Earth.
05:25But there's a sudden gap in planets that are about from 1.5 to 2 times bigger than
05:30Earth.
05:31Where are they?
05:33This gap is interesting to scientists because it tells us something about how planets form
05:37and change over time.
05:39It's not that planets don't form in this size range.
05:42They actually start off larger, and then lose some of their mass, like a balloon gradually
05:47deflating.
05:48Perhaps it happens because of how they orbit their stars, with stars blowing away some
05:53of their mass as they dance around it, as our Sun does with gas from comet tails.
05:59This gap holds a lot of mystery, and planets, like our new super-Earth, are clues that could
06:04help us unravel it.
06:06We aren't sure whether it exists around red dwarfs.
06:10Maybe it's a gap in how dense these planets are rather than in their actual size.
06:14So studying our discovered planet is even more interesting.
06:18It'll help us learn more about distant stars and their planets.
06:23Now I mentioned tests a while back.
06:25NASA's TESS, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, has been in space for 6 years now
06:31and has been incredibly successful.
06:34NASA launched TESS because we already found over 5,000 planets orbiting other stars, mainly
06:40thanks to the Kepler telescope.
06:43But Kepler mostly found large planets, not necessarily like Earth.
06:47We decided to focus TESS on finding smaller Earth-like planets around nearby bright stars,
06:53making them easier to study with future telescopes.
06:57Here's how it works.
07:00The camera observes stars and looks for changes in their brightness.
07:04If the brightness suddenly drops for a while and then gets back, it could mean there is
07:08a planet passing in front of it.
07:11But stars can dim for other reasons too.
07:14For example, flaring up or having dark spots on their surface, which is why we need to
07:19be careful with this data.
07:21TESS shows us the size and orbit of these planets.
07:25Then ground telescopes help determine their mass.
07:28With these three parameters, we can figure out what the planets are made of and if they're
07:32rocky like Earth or gassy like Jupiter.
07:35Yeah, you want to avoid Jupiter after taco night!
07:41One example of TESS's discoveries was the TOI-700 system.
07:46There it discovered its first-ever Earth-like planet, TOI-700d.
07:52This exoplanet also orbited a red dwarf, and it's even closer to us, about 100 light-years
07:57away.
07:58Unfortunately, it's unlikely to be habitable because the temperatures there are crazy.
08:04Another big discovery was made in the AU Microscopy System.
08:09TESS discovered a planet about 4 times the size of Earth, and another nearly 3 times
08:13Earth's size.
08:15This system has become a key area for studying how stars and planets form and change over
08:20time.
08:21TESS has also spotted a variety of other exciting finds, including supernova, hot worlds, and
08:27so on.
08:28And as it enters its 6th year, we can only expect more exciting findings to come!
08:36That's it for today!
08:37So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:41friends!
08:42Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!