Tiny Earth-Like Planet Discovered Close to Our Solar System
Image Credit in Google
The nearest Earth-sized exoplanet to our Solar System is a little world dubbed LTT 1445 Ac, which is about 22 light-years distant.
Image Credit in Google
Image Credit in Google
LTT 1445 Ac is an Earth analogue for scientific research since it has a mass and radius that are around 1.37 and 1.07 times that of Earth, respectively.
Image Credit in Google
Its likeness to Earth, although being too hot for life, allows scientists to investigate the evolution of planets and the differences between Earth-like worlds.
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Because of the gravitational pull from three stars, the exoplanet is part of a unique system called a trinary system, which presents difficulties for observations.
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To understand an exoplanet scientists require two types of measurements: transit data and radial velocity data.
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While radial velocity data indicates an exoplanet's mass and helps establish its density and composition, transit data provides the exoplanet's radius.
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LTT 1445 Ac was first detected by the exoplanet-hunting TESS telescope, but a more precise study required higher resolution transit data.
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Scientists were able to witness transits and measure the exoplanet's diameter with high clarity thanks in large part to the Hubble Space Telescope.