A planet the size of Earth 12 light years away from us could be a vital piece in the puzzle of searching for habitable planets.
Astronomers searching for Earth-like planets have discovered one in another solar system that seems to have one of the unique criteria for sustaining life – a magnetic field.
You may not often pause to thank Earth’s magnetic field for you being here today, but it’s vital to protecting our planet’s life-sustaining atmosphere.
It does that by deflecting the high energy particles and plasma regularly blasted out of the sun.
Now scientists think they’ve found another Earth-sized planet with a magnetic field – YZ Ceti b, a rocky planet orbiting a star about 12 light-years away from Earth.
Because magnetic fields are invisible, it’s challenging to determine if a distant planet actually has one, according to Jackie Villadsen, an astronomer at Bucknell University in the US.
But being able to work out if they do is vital to the search for potentially habitable or life-bearing worlds, Joe Pesce from the National Science Foundation said.
“This research shows not only that this particular rocky exoplanet likely has a magnetic field but provides a promising method to find more,” he added.
The researchers detected radio waves which they theorised were generated by the interactions between the planet’s magnetic field and the star it orbits.
The research was published on Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
A planet’s magnetic field can prevent its atmosphere from being worn away over time by particles spewed from its star, Sebastian Pineda, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado, said.
In other words, a strong magnetic field can mean life or death for a planet’s atmosphere.