Venus’s evil twin or long-lost sibling? The intriguing case of Gliese 12 b

The discovery of Gliese 12 b, a Venus-like planet just 40 light-years away, offers new perspectives for understanding the conditions that support life in the universe. This “evil twin” receives significantly more radiation from its star compared to Earth, raising intriguing questions for future research with advanced telescopes. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

The latest findings of a Venus-like planet, Gliese 12 b, boosts our search for life-supporting planets by providing a closer look at Earth’s potential “evil twin.”

The discovery of a Venus-like planet around a star in the vicinity of our Solar System raises hopes that astronomers may one day unlock the secret of why life appeared on Earth.

Studying life in the Universe is difficult because we have only one example of a planet where life has been confirmed: Earth. It is difficult to say which features of Earth are required for life to appear and which are irrelevant. Until we find an “Earth twin” where the conditions for life also appeared, the best astronomers can do is study “evil twins,” planets with Earth-like initial conditions that turned out to be very different, with unsuitable environments for life.

Solar System Insights and Distant Discoveries

In the solar system, Venus and March give two examples of lifeless “evil twins”. But with only two examples, there is still much uncertainty about how strict or lax the conditions for life might be. Since the 1990s, more than 5,500 planets have been discovered that orbit stars other than the Sun. However, most of these planets are hundreds of light years away from Earth, making it difficult to study them in detail.

Close encounter with Gliese 12 b

In this research, the team found and characterized a new planet, named Gliese 12 b, based on data from NASA’s TESS space telescope; the MuSCAT2 and MuSCAT3 cameras, which were developed by the Astrobiology Center (ABC) in Japan and the University of Tokyo; and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Subaru Telescope. Gliese 12 b is close to the Solar System, located only 40 light-years away in the direction of the Piscean focus. This makes Gliese 12 b an ideal target to study with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and future 30 m class telescopes.

Characteristics and potential of Gliese 12 b

So far, the international team led by scientists from the Japan Astrobiology Center, the University of Tokyo, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the Tokyo Institute of Technology has realized that Gliese 12 b has an orbital period of one. year on the planet, of only 12.8 days. The planet has a radius that is only 4% smaller than Earth’s radius and is less than 3.9 times the mass of Earth. Gliese 12 b receives 1.6 times more radiation from its host star than Earth receives from the Sun. By comparison, Venus receives 1.9 times more radiation than Earth.

Conclusions and Future Research

Based on this data, the team believes that Gliese 12 b is an “evil twin”, more like Venus than Earth. But they cannot rule out the possibility that Gliese 12 b is an “Earth twin” with liquid water on its surface. Further observations will determine whether Gliese 12 b is an “evil twin” or an “Earth twin.” In either case, the study of Gliese 12 b will give us a better idea of ​​the prerequisites for a life-friendly environment to emerge on a planet.

For more on this discovery, see Newest TESS discovery could change our search for alien worlds.

Reference: “Gliese 12 b: A Soft Earth-Size Planet at 12 pc Ideal for Atmospheric Transmission Spectroscopy” by Masayuki Kuzuhara, Akihiko Fukui, John H. Livingston, José A. Caballero, Jerome P. de Leon, Teruyuki Karano , , Felipe Murgas, Norio Narita, Masashi Omiya, Jaume Orell-Miquel, Enric Palle, Quentin Changeat, Emma Esparza-Borges, Hiroki Harakawa, Coel Hellier, Yasunori Hori, Kai Ikuta, Hiroyuki Tako Ishikawa, Takanori Kudokiyuki, , Juan C. Morales, Mayuko Mori, Evangelos Nagel, Hannu Parviainen, Volker Perdelwitz, Ansgar Reiners, Ignasi Ribas, Jorge Sanz-Forcada, Bun’ei Sato, Andreas Schweitzer, Hugo M. Tabernero, Takuya Takaradaruya, Tai , Mathias Zechmeister, Néstor Abreu García, Wako Aoki, Charles Beichman, Víctor JS Pyjar, Timothy D. Brandt, Yéssica Calatayud-Borras, Ilaria Carleo, David Charbonneau, Karen A. Collins, Thayne Dorriz, Stefan Dr. Gareb Fernández-Rodríguez, Izuru Fukuda, Daniel Galán, Samuel Geraldía-González, Josafat González-Garcia, Yuya Hayashi, Christina Hedges, Thomas Henning, Klaus Hodapp, Masahiro Ikoma, Keisuke Shanus Jansson, Taiki Kagetani, Eiji Kambe, Yugo Kawai, Kiyoe Kawauchi, Eiichiro Kokubo, Mihoko Konishi, Judith Korth, Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy, Takashi Kurokawa, Nobuhiko Kusakabe, Jungmi Kwon, Andrés Laza-Ramos-Ramos, Ramos, Florence, Matsumoto, Dimitri Mawet, Michael W. McElwain, Pedro Pablo Meni Gallardo, Giuseppe Morello, Sara Muñoz Torres, Jun Nishikawa, Stevanus K. Nugroho, Masahiro Ogihara, Alberto Peláez-Torres, David Rapetti, Manuel Sánchez-Benavente, Martin Schlecker Seager, Eugene Serabyn, Takuma Serizawa, Monika Stangret, Aoi Takahashi, Huan-Yu Teng , Motohide Tamura, Yuka Terada, Akitoshi Ueda, Tomonori Usuda, Roland Vanderspek, Sébastien Vievard, David Watanabe, Joshua N. Zapatin, and Mariano. May 23, 2024, of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad3642

Funding: Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, European Union and State Investigation Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Center of Excellence ” Severo Award Ochoa and “Maria de Maeztu”, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Academic Mission Service, Margarita Salas Scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Universities, Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, Swedish National Space Agency, Swedish Research Council, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Aeronautics and Space Administration NExSS.