The Chandra X-ray telescope and other observatories are being used to study stars that could potentially harbor habitable planets. Future observatories will use the data to narrow down the list for possible Earth-like planets to image.
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
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TechTranscript
00:00Music
00:04Visit Chandra's beautiful universe.
00:08Exoplanet Study
00:12Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton,
00:16astronomers are testing how habitable exoplanets are based on whether they receive
00:20lethal radiation from the stars they orbit.
00:24This type of research will help guide observations with the next generation of telescopes
00:28aiming to make the first images of planets like Earth.
00:32A team of researchers examined stars that are close enough to Earth that telescopes
00:36set to begin operating in the next decade or two could take images of planets
00:40in their so-called habitable zones, defined as orbits where the planets
00:44could have liquid water on their surfaces.
00:48Any images of planets will be single points of light and will not directly show
00:52surface features like clouds, continents, and oceans.
00:56However, their spectra, the amount of light at different wavelengths,
01:00will reveal information about the planet's surface composition and atmosphere.
01:04There are several other factors influencing what could make a planet
01:08suitable for life as we know it. One of those factors is the amount of
01:12harmful X-rays and ultraviolet light they receive, which can damage or even strip
01:16away the planet's atmosphere. A team of astronomers began
01:20with a list of stars that are close enough to Earth that future ground and space
01:24telescopes could make images of planets in their habitable zone.
01:28These future telescopes include the Habitable Worlds Observatory and
01:32ground-based Extremely Large Telescopes. Based on X-ray
01:36observations of some of these stars using data from Chandra and XMM Newton,
01:40the researchers examined which stars could have hospitable conditions
01:44on orbiting planets for life to form and prosper.
01:48The team studied how bright the stars are in X-rays, how energetic the X-rays
01:52are, and how much and how quickly they change in X-ray output.
01:56For example, due to flares.
02:00Brighter and more energetic X-rays can cause more damage to the atmospheres
02:04of orbiting planets. They identified stars where the habitable zone's
02:08X-ray radiation environment is similar to or even milder than the
02:12one in which Earth evolved. Such conditions may play a key role
02:16in sustaining a rich atmosphere like the one found on Earth.
02:20Observing time on the next generation of telescopes will be precious and
02:24extremely difficult to obtain. These X-ray data are helping to refine
02:28and prioritize the list of targets and may allow the first image
02:32of a planet like the Earth to be obtained more quickly.
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