Exoplanet K2–18b Could Have the Right Conditions for Life
Just over 120 light years from Earth, exoplanet K2–18b could have conditions favorable to the development of life, a new study reveals. It all comes down to the science.
The exoplanet K2–18b, sitting 124 light years from Earth, may have conditions favorable to the development of life, a new study suggests. The world is larger than the Earth, is known to have a substantial atmosphere, and new research suggests that conditions on this world may also be favorable to producing large pools of liquid water.
Roughly twice as large as Earth, with 8.6 times the mass of our home world, this exoplanet orbits within the habitable zone around its star, K2–18. This region of a solar system, sometimes called the Goldilocks zone, is the distance from a star which is neither too hot, nor too cold, for liquid water to exist on the surface of a planet.
“To establish the prospects for habitability, it is important to obtain a unified understanding of the interior and atmospheric conditions on the planet — in particular, whether liquid water can exist beneath the atmosphere,” Nikku Madhusudhan of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, who led the new research, stated.
It Lends an Air of Mystery…
