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Two Habitable-Zone Planets Just Discovered, Only 12 light Years Away
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Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1387 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Two Earth-like planets have just been discovered at Teegarden's Star, a very small red dwarf, only 12 light years distant. The star itself wasn't discovered until 2003, despite its nearness. Fortunately, as concerns life on these planets, Teegarden's Star appears, after prolonged scrutiny, to be free of flares. Red dwarf stars often flare to such great extent that they could destroy life on nearby planets. Teegarden's Star is thought to be about 8 billion years old, nearly twice the age of our Sun. This may explain its lack flares. Aged red dwarf stars sometimes cease flaring. At 8 billion years old, there may have been time for life to flourish on these planets. after the star settled down. Its expected that considerable attention will now be directed at this star, with an eye to learning more about its Earth-like planets. We should find it much easier than usual to do this, considering how close the star is to Earth. Please find a link, below, to an article with further information. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/06/two-potentially-life-friendly-planets-found-12-light-years-away-teegardens-star/ |
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