.png)
.png)
Humans have lived on Earth for a very long time. It’s the only place we’ve ever been. However, with our recent advances in technology along with our growing population, it comes time to start thinking about what our next endeavor will be. One idea is to stay local to our solar system. People have thought about going to Mars or maybe Venus, but there are reasons why life doesn’t already exist on those planets. Earth is in a perfect zone from the sun to sustain life, and that’s why we exist. If that’s the case, why don’t we go to try and find another in a different star system? Today, I’ll be talking about exoplanets, planets in other star systems, and see if they could be habitable, and if that is our future.
For a very long time, we didn’t even know exoplanets existed, but now we do, and we have various ways of finding them. Exoplanets are hard to detect, due to them being so far away and so dim that they get outshined by the star in their system. One way astronomers can find them is by using something called direct imaging. To do this, astronomers block out the main light of the sun using an instrument to allow them to see the planets more easily. However, this is difficult to do with any planets but very bright ones, often young planets that still have some light from when they were formed. Another method of finding exoplanets is to see how the star moves in relation to possible planets and see if there are movements that would imply the gravity of an object like an exoplanet moving the star.
If you remember when I wrote about the James Webb Space Telescope, it can help on this mission for exoplanets too. Recently, astronomers used the JWST to confirm an exoplanet’s existence that has a diameter 99% that of Earth. The precision of the JWST may be able to help us find out what atmospheres are like on different exoplanets. On the planet it discovered, it hasn’t figured out what atmosphere it does have, but it was able to rule out certain possibilities because of the sensitivity and accuracy of the telescope. This is an important step to finding habitable planets, as a breathable atmosphere is very important for human life.
Another important thing for life to survive is a strong magnetic field around the planet. Earth’s magnetic field is very important, not just in directing compasses, but also in protecting our planet. Our magnetic field protects us from the solar wind of the sun. Solar wind is plasma emitted from the sun, and without our magnetic field it would destroy our ozone layer, leaving us vulnerable to the UV rays of the sun, and we would all be dead. Our search for habitable exoplanets depends on the fact that they have similar magnetic fields, and we have good news. On April 4th, 2022 researchers received a radio signal from an exoplanet that is similarly sized to Earth. They believe that this radio signal came from an interaction between the magnetic field of the planet and its star. Additionally, for the signals to have traveled so far to reach us, the magnetic field would have to be strong, showing that it could be habitable, at least in this regard.
To conclude, the possibility of humanity moving to an exoplanet is likely, but the time frame may be out of our lifetimes. However, it is very possible that the next frontier after our solar system will be exoplanets, and they could provide an opportunity for humanity to expand more than ever before, and the research now is all just leading up to that.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230111193458.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230404133318.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230413154452.htm