EUROPE: University of Warwick researchers have published a new study this week, which suggested that one of the most Earth-like exoplanets may not be capable of supporting alien life and it could be uninhabitable.
Previously in this year, astronomers said that they have found the Kepler 438b, an exoplanet present 470 lightyears away. The 438b, unlike other exoplanets discovered before, is unique and special because scientists said that it belongs to the habitable zone, informally known as Goldilocks Zone. In this zone, the temperature is perfect for liquid water to remain and flow in the surface of a planet.
Earth, for example is within the habitable zone of the Solar System. Additionally, the Red Planet Mars and dwarf planet Ceres are also located in the Goldilocks Zone of the Solar System.
Kepler 438b is only 12% wider than Earth. The exoplanet orbits its host star every 35 days. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center scientists who did the discovery of the exoplanet said that the amount of light and this planet’s size is what places it among the most Earth-like planets yet discovered outside the borders of our Solar System.
However, as per the Warwick-led research, Kepler 438b may not be capable of supporting alien life as it receives excessive radiation that gets blasted off by its red dwarf host star.
