Almost thirty years ago, the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet orbiting a star similar to the Sun, has opened a real cosmic hunt. Today, the list of discovered exoplanets counts well 5,271 celestial bodies. Yet, among this vast collection of distant worlds, alone 7 of them meet the criteria necessary to be considered potentially habitable, i.e. having an adequate age, being in the right position relative to their parent star, and having a surface on which water can exist in a liquid state.
The research, conducted by the scientist Balazs Bradak of Kobe University in Japan, focused on identifying these rare cosmic jewels. Among the parameters taken into consideration are being located in the so-called “habitable area” of the parent star, have dimensions not too dissimilar to those of the Earth (thus excluding the gas giants like Jupiter or the “sub-Neptunians”) and have an age that allows the development of a technologically advanced civilization, similar to what happened on Earth.
Planets in the light: Kepler-452 is the hunt for habitable exoplanets
One of the planets that stands out in this cosmic elite is Kepler-452 b, which orbits a star similar to our Sun and is “only” 1,400 light years away from us. This relative proximity gives us the ability to conduct in-depth studies, including analysis of the atmosphere, which is crucial for determining the habitability of a planet. However, it is We will likely have to wait for the next generation of large telescopes to collect more detailed data on these distant worlds.
Faced with such a discovery, we cannot help but ask ourselves: what awaits us in the study of these planets? Will we be able to find traces of life, or perhaps, signs of advanced civilizations? Or will they be silent worlds, home only to rocky deserts or frozen oceans? Only time and future technology will be able to reveal these mysteries of the universe.
And you, do you think that among these planets we could find a “second Earth”?
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