Photographer, Mark A. Garlick
White dwarf and planet (computer graphics)
British scientists believe they have discovered a new planet that is theoretically capable of supporting life, as it is located in the so-called “habitable zone”, that is, the conditions on it can support the existence of water in liquid form.
“We first saw something like this in the habitable zone of a white dwarf,” said the head of the study, Professor Jay Farihy from University College London, to the BBC. “Therefore, there is a possibility that there is life on the planet that orbits it.” .
What are “white dwarfs”
After death, very large stars turn into black holes. But smaller ones – like our Sun – become “white dwarfs,” that is, stars that have used up their nuclear fuel and lost their outer layers.
Usually they do not exceed the size of the planet and after the formation have a blue-white glow.
The planet in the habitable zone that scientists are talking about is located at a distance of 117 light-years from Earth. It is assumed that it is 60 times closer to its star compared to the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
However, British astronomers do not yet have direct evidence of the existence of this celestial body. They have to rely on information about the movements of 65 other moon-sized objects that are in the habitable zone (also called the “Goldilocks zone”). These objects remain at an equal distance from each other, and this suggests that they are held by the gravity of some nearby planet.
“The members of our group were simply amazed,” says Prof. Farihi. “The movement was so precise that it is even impossible to imagine.”
habitable zone
The habitable zone is a region in space near a particular star, where the distance from the star is not too great to be extremely cold there, and not too close to be extremely hot there. If the conditions on the planet meet these requirements, there may be water in liquid form, and hence life.
The results of the British scientists’ study mean that astronomers should now be actively looking for new plans around other “white dwarfs”.
“Usually in astronomy it’s like this: if one thing is found, then, as a rule, this is a common phenomenon,” Farihi says about this.