Earth-like planet may exist in nearby star system at a distance of 16 light years

Washington/United States, August 18: The scientists predicted that a planet resembling Earth is perhaps hidden in the planetary system at a distance of 16 light years away.

Astrophysicists at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in the United States studied that the star system Gliese 832 for extra exoplanets inhabiting amidst the two presently known alien worlds in this system. Their calculations disclosed that an extra earth like planet with an active stable configuration maybe dwelling at a distance ranging from 0.25 to 2.o astronomical unit (AU) from the star.

Dr Suman Satyal, Physics Researcher University of Texas at Arlington and lead author of the research published in The Astrophysical Journal said that “According to our calculations, this imaginary alien may have a mass between 1-15 of Earth’s masses.

Gliese 832 is a red dwarf that constitutes under half the mass and radius of the Sun. The star is orbited by a giant  Jupiter-like exoplanet designated Gliese 832b and by a super-Earth planet Gliese 832c. The giant Jupiter-like planet has 0.64 Jupiter masses and is revolving the star at a distance of 3.53 Astronomical Unit. The other planet is about 5 times more heavier than Earth, dwelling very near to its host star that is about 0.16 Astronomical Unit.

Alexander Weiss, University of Texas at Arlington said that “This is an important progress demonstrating the possible survival of a potential new planet revolving a star near to Earth.” He added that “Dr Suman Satyal demonstrated that the planet will be with a stable orbit in the area, and it would be for more than  1 billion years .”

The team figured out that the assumed data with an instilled Earth-mass planet on the nearby planetary system would expecting to find a stable orbital configuration for the planet. The planet is possibly located in a huge space amidst the 2 planets.