Researchers announced that they think there is a planet with the necessary conditions to live near a fading star.
The planet, which is believed to be orbiting a star called a ‘white dwarf’, is neither too cold nor too hot; Therefore, it is thought that they may have the necessary conditions to live.
The research is published in the monthly newsletter of the Royal Astronomical Society in England.
Professor Jay Farihi of the University of London, who led the research, said that this is the first time astronomers have made such an observation.
“This is the first time such an observation has been made in the habitable space around a white dwarf. There may be life on the planet in its orbit,” Farihi told the BBC.
When massive stars expire and die, they turn into black holes. But when smaller stars like our sun consume all their nuclear fuel and lose their outer layers, stars called “white dwarfs” form.
These stars are usually the size of a planet and emit a bluish-white light when they first form.
The planet that scientists think exists is 117 light-years from Earth, and its distance from the star it orbits is 60 times less than the distance between Earth and the Sun.
The research team does not have any evidence directly proving the existence of this planet, but the movements of 65 celestial bodies the size of the Moon in the habitable space around the white dwarf indicate the existence of such a planet.
The fact that the distance between these objects does not change suggests that they are in the gravitational field of a nearby planet.
Professor Farihi says his observations came as a complete shock to his team. “The movement of objects is so sensitive that it is impossible to go wrong.”
There is the possibility of liquid water on planets in the annular habitable space around a star.
This makes life possible.
Farihi hopes his observations will lead astronomers to research around white dwarf stars.