A team of astronomers identified an exoplanet that would certainly be inhospitable, but has key qualities that make it ideal for observation.
According to Discovery News, a multi-institutional team of researchers detailed the discovery of a planet closely resembling Venus relatively close to Earth. GJ 1132b orbits a star called Gliese 113239 about 39 light years away, but is far too close to the star for liquid water to exist.
The researchers published their study in the journal Nature.
"Our ultimate goal is to find a twin Earth, but along the way we've found a twin Venus," David Charbonneau an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said in a press release. "We suspect it will have a Venus-like atmosphere too, and if it does we can't wait to get a whiff."
At 39 light years from Earth, GJ 1132b is three times closer than any previously discovered Earthlike exoplanet and its orbit is ideal for observation as well. Such conditions will allow the researchers to examine chemical signatures of the planet's atmosphere.
"An atmosphere could redistribute the heat," Drake Deming, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, told Discovery News. "The equilibrium temperature we calculate for this planet is above the habitable range, but with tidal locking and modest heat redistribution there could be habitable regions on the planet."
The new study could benefit future observations from the Giant Magellan Telescope, which just broke ground in Chile and is expected to be operational by 2021.
"We have long imagined how rocky planets around other stars - particularly small stars - maybe be similar or distinct from the planets in the solar system," Zachory Berta-Thompson, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told Discovery News. "With this planet, we will finally be able to observe one!"
