‘4,000 light-years away’: Astronomers discover exoplanet that provides a glimpse of Earth’s future
Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
Discovery of Earth-like Planet
Astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered an Earth-sized planet orbiting a white dwarf star about 4,000 light-years away, providing insight into the distant future of planetary systems like our own.
Published in Nature Astronomy
The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, suggest that this planetary system offers a possible preview of how Earth’s own orbit may evolve when the sun transforms into a white dwarf billions of years from now.
Star and Planet System
The system includes a white dwarf, half the mass of the sun, and an Earth-like planet orbiting at twice the current distance between Earth and the sun. This configuration could resemble the Earth-sun relationship in the future.
Future of Our Solar System
According to lead researcher Keming Zhang, Earth could remain habitable for about another billion years before the sun’s increasing heat renders it uninhabitable. This discovery suggests that planets can survive their star’s red giant phase.
Detection Through Microlensing
The system was first detected in 2020 using microlensing, a technique where the gravity of a distant object magnifies the light from a background star. Follow-up observations in 2023 confirmed the star as a white dwarf.
Significance of Survival
Jessica Lu from UC Berkeley noted the importance of finding a planet that survived its star’s transformation, even though it is no longer in a habitable zone.
New Techniques for Study
The research team used adaptive optics and AI techniques to analyze microlensing events, expanding possibilities for studying distant planetary systems beyond traditional detection methods.
Implications for Earth’s Future
As the sun expands into a red giant in about 5 billion years, inner planets like Earth may be engulfed or pushed to distant orbits. This discovery raises the possibility of exploring habitability on moons of outer planets like Jupiter or Saturn in the far future.