New Earth-like planet discovered

Shishir Dholakia, a PhD student in astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, was part of the international team that published the discovery in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“Doing some basic calculations, we figured out that Gliese 12b could be about the size of Earth, it could have a temperate climate, and it’s really close. Within a day or so, we were thinking about announcing this discovery, because it’s such a cool thing,” he said.

Gliese 12b is about the size of Earth or slightly smaller, closer to Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of about 42 degrees Celsius. It orbits Gliese 12 every 12 days around Gliese 12, a cool red dwarf star in the constellation Pisces. Gliese 12 is about a quarter the size of the sun and has a surface temperature of about 60 percent.

Mr Dholakia, who worked with NASA to confirm the new planet, co-led the team with another PhD student at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), Ms Larissa Palethorpe.

“It's only 40 light years away, which doesn't mean we can reach it in the near future, but we can track it with the world's largest space telescopes and understand its atmosphere,” said Dholakia.

That could help shed light on our solar system, he explains. “Earth and Venus are good examples of how an atmosphere can change the surface of a planet. So while Earth is a haven for life as we know it, Venus is hot enough to melt lead on its surface.”

“And the difference between the two planets is largely due to Venus having a very harsh atmosphere. So we think that this planet, which is right between Earth and Venus in terms of the amount of light it gets from the sun, can actually help us understand why Venus and Earth are so different,” said Dholakia.

According to NASA, Gliese 12b is a prime candidate for further study with the James Webb Space Telescope.