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Water discovered in the atmosphere of habitable exoplanet K2-18b super Earth
Water discovered in the atmosphere of habitable exoplanet 'K2-18b' super Earth
World astronomers have discovered water for the first time in the atmosphere of habitable exoplanet- 'K2-18b' super Earth which orbits in its star’s “habitable zone”.
The article was published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy and the lead scientist of the research is Prof Giovanna Tinetti of University College London (UCL), United Kingdom.
The exoplanet, named K2-18b, is twice the size and eight times the mass of Earth. K2-18b is the first planet outside the solar system in the habitable zone of its star.
About up to, 50% of the atmosphere of K2-18b consists of water, which could support life.
Scientists found the unmistakable signature of water vapor with concentrations between 0.1 and 50%.
The K2-18b super Earth, is 111 light-years about 650 million miles from Earth, and is over twice the size of Earth in a planet category known as a “super-Earth” and has a temperature cool enough to have liquid water, between zero and 40C.
The K2-18b super Earth is the first known exoplanet to combine a rocky surface and an atmosphere with water out of the discovered 4000 plus exoplanets.
The K2-18b super Earth, was initially discovered in December 2015 & spotted by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft
The K2-18b super Earth, orbits a red dwarf star about 110 light-years distant in the Leo constellation of the Milky Way galaxy.
K2-18b super Earth
The planets that are beyond the solar system are called exoplanets.
The first exoplanet was discovered in 1992, orbiting a pulsar (a neutron star that emits electromagnetic radiation). They are believed to resemble Jupiter or Neptune.