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Astronomers Discover Planet Vulcan

A planet has recently been found in the spot, which in Star Trek, has a planet called Vulcan.

By Three of Seven Wed 19 Sep, 2018 5:47 PM
Described by astronomers as a super-Earth, as it is around twice the size of our planet, Earth. The more interesting part is that this planet has been found in 40 Eridani A, the same as it's location within the Star Trek universe. In deciding the sun for the fictional world, there was already some knowledge about that area of space, such as the age of the star, 40 Eridani A has many similarities to our sun, which made it a good candidate to put in a fictional planet. 40 Eridani B and C both have their own issues, B gives off too much radiation to have a habitable planet, and C gives of many solar flares, as well as lethal radiation.

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The planet is also closer to it's sun than Earth is to ours, which puts it within the habitable zone for that star, as shown by the green in the image to the left. The reason for the habitable zone being closer is that the star is a little smaller, and not as warm as ours. This also means that a year on Vulcan only lasts for 42 of our days, which would mean that if there is life on that planet, time might been calculated a little differently to how we know it!

Of course, the distance to this planet is 16 light-years, so it is unlikely that we will reach it with a manned ship anytime soon, that would be a much more distant prospect. Scientists will probably look into getting more data, and even finding out if the planet itself has life, or once contained life, and maybe more about the surface as well. This is something that will take more time, but for now, we atleast know there is a planet in our world that is habitable, and in a similar location as the planet Vulcan.

There is certainly so much more to learn about our universe, and the other planets within it, who knows what will be discovered next, and when we may actually visit some of these far away worlds.

WRITTEN & EDITED BY Three of Seven - rena.hobden@ufplanets.com
4 Comments
Wed 19 Sep, 2018 6:29 PM
Amazing!
Wed 19 Sep, 2018 7:10 PM
Wow! Live Long and Prosper
Wed 19 Sep, 2018 8:08 PM
I wonder if with the Webb Telescope we can find out signs of intelligent life (i.e. if the habitat/civilization, assuming it has any). For example, if they have artificial satelittes around its orbit like we do.
Fri 11 Jan, 2019 1:13 AM
I wonder if with the Webb Telescope we can find out signs of intelligent life (i.e. if the habitat/civilization, assuming it has any). For example, if they have artificial satelittes around its orbit like we do.
"JWST’s oxygen-spotting prospects may be dim, but Joshua Krissansen-Totton, an astrobiologist at the University of Washington, thinks there is a good chance that the telescope will be able to detect two other molecules that would suggest the presence of life: carbon dioxide and methane. It will be possible to spot those molecules in a planet’s atmosphere, Krissansen-Totton explained, because they emit light in the infrared portion of the spectrum."

Trying to help answer your question with new questions.
https://eos.org/articles/how-well-ca...exoplanet-life

"'Webb will definitely have the capacity to detect water on a rocky planet,' said René Doyon, an astrophysicist at the Université de Montréal who is one of the scientists in charge of building JWST. "