The second earth - KEPLER 452B

 

Image: PICRYL 

For humans, the universe appears to be a place of beauty and peace. Along with these, it also contains many wonders and surprises.

There are eight planets in our solar system. We know this. There are 40 billion stars like the Sun in this Milky Way Galaxy! And many planets crawling around those stars. As of now, the universe is said to have more than ten billion galaxies like our Milky Way galaxy! Therefore, many scientists thought that we are not alone in such a large system. 

So on March 7, 2009, a telescope called Kepler was launched to space. The telescope was named 'Kepler' after the German astronomer Johannes Kepler . Its aim is to find different planets in this universe that can be similar to Earth. The telescope has so far discovered more than a thousand planets. Among them, 2 to 12 planets are said to be potentially habitable planets similar to Earth. One of them is Kepler 452b . NASA scientists called it Earth 2.0.

The Sun of Kepler 452b: 

Image: PinkPik

The planet's sun is named Kepler 452 . It is located 1400 light years away from Earth! Its mass is almost equal to the mass of our Sun. Its diameter is only 11% greater than that of our Sun. Also, this star emits 20% more light than our Sun. This star is a Yellow Dwarf star like our Sun.

But, this star is 1.4 billion years older than the Sun! Sun is 4.6 billion years old. The age of this star is 6 billion years. It is said that in a few hundred million years this star will be completely destroyed! 

The surface temperature of this star is 5700 Kelvin. The surface temperature of the Sun is almost the same. Just as this star corresponds to many attributes of our Sun, so the planet of this star (kepler 452b) corresponds to our Earth in many attributes. Now, let's take a closer look at the planet Kepler 452b which orbits this star. 

Kepler 452b - The second Earth:

The distance of 14,95,97,877 kilometers between our Earth and the Sun is referred to as 1 AU (1 astronomical unit). Similarly, the possible distance between Kepler 452b and its Sun is 1.046AU. This is almost equal to the distance between our Earth and the Sun!

Basic properties of kepler 452 b:

The diameter of the earth is 12,000 kilometers. The Kepler 452b planet has a diameter of 20000 km. That means this planet is 60% bigger than Earth! And the gravity of this planet is twice that of Earth. When you walk on this planet, it's like carrying another human being of your weight on your shoulders.

Image: wikimedia commons

A year on this planet is 385 days. And it revolves around its sun, just like the Earth itself! Thus, the heat of the sun is available equally to all parts of the planet. And since this planet revolves around its sun in an elliptical orbit, the planet, like Earth, undergoes seasonal changes!

Is Kepler 452b a habitable planet?

The closer a planet is to its star, the warmer it is, and the farther away it is, the cooler it is. Only if a planet is located between the two at the right temperature where water can exist in liquid form. This area is called "the habitable zone" .

Kepler 452b is also in the habitable zone. So water is in liquid form on this planet. Planets found by Kepler telescope and likely to be in the habitable zone are given below.

Image: PICRYL

And rocks have been found to be abundant on this planet. The planet's temperature is 10% higher than Earth's average temperature. But for the people living in 100°C heat in india, it may not be that much heat.  

Atmosphere:

A planet must have a certain amount of atmosphere for life to exist. The ozone layer protects the Earth's atmosphere. Earth's magnetic field also plays a large role in maintaining this atmosphere. 

But it is not yet certain whether this planet "Kepler 452b" has an atmosphere or not. Because excessive solar flares from the sun of this planet attack this planet. These are likely to affect the planet's atmosphere. However, the planet has a magnetic field twice as strong as Earth's, so it is likely to retain its atmosphere.

How much water there is on this planet has not yet been confirmed. Because the star of this planet emits slightly more heat than the Sun, the water in this planet is also likely to dry up. 78% of our Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen gas. Similarly, no information is available about the atmosphere of planet Kepler 452b. 

However, as many of the Earth's characteristics coincide with this planet, it is called the second earth. 

Distance:

This planet is about 1400 light years away from Earth. Even if you travel at the speed of light it will take 1400 years to reach that planet! It will take another 1400 years to reach Earth again. So, you must have traveled a total of 2800 to and from this planet! 

But this is not possible in practice. However, as long as we have the powerful weapon called 'science', nothing can be said to be impossible so easily! 

Earth will be destructed in a few billion years. But while thinking about environmental pollutions, it seems likely that Earth will become an uninhabitable planet within a few thousand years. That is why humans are planning to colonize the human race on another planet. 

Maybe...

If there are living beings on that planet and they pollute their planet like us and come to Earth, they too will be disappointed.