What is the significance of NASA's discovery of two "super earths" only 33 light years away from the earth?

To tell the truth, as long as we hear about extraterrestrial planets, we are always inexplicably excited. It seems that we are uncovering the mystery of the universe bit by bit.

Friends who have seen Interstellar should still remember that a bridge in the movie is the story that plants died and became extinct because of an epidemic disease on the earth, and humans were forced to emigrate to other planets. But it is more difficult for human beings to find the right planet than to go to heaven. Because there is oxygen, water, plants and animals on the earth, if you want to find a planet with the same environment as the earth, you must keep exploring and searching. Will the two "super earths" discovered by NASA be the next place for human beings to live?

Anyway, let's talk about what is a "super planet".

Super Earth refers to a star similar to Neptune, which orbits a star and has a mass of about 2.5 to 10 times that of the Earth. It is classified as a hot and ice-free star.

Since the team led by Eugenio Rivera discovered gliese 876d in 2005, the world has discovered several super earths. As the largest terrestrial planet in the solar system, the solar system where the earth is located does not contain such a planet that can be used as an example. All planets larger than the earth have at least ten times the mass of the earth.

What are the specific conditions of these two newly discovered "super earths"?

These two newly discovered exoplanets are called "super earth". Bigger than the earth, but smaller than the ice giant. They orbit an icy red dwarf star named HD 260655. The volume of the planet HD 260655 b is 1.2 times that of the earth, and its mass is about twice that of the earth. It orbits the star once every 2.8 days. Planet HD 260655 c is 1.5 times the size of the earth and 3 times the mass of the earth, and orbits the star once every 5.7 days. The researchers said that according to the size, mass and density data, they are likely to be rocky planets.

Neither planet is warm enough to support life. The temperature of planet B is about 435℃, and the temperature of planet C is about 284℃. The actual temperature depends on the possible atmosphere and its properties.

Despite this, the scientific team that discovered these planets said that they are well worth further study. According to the research team, among all the earth-like exoplanets discovered so far, the atmospheric characteristics of these two planets are in front of 10, which makes them belong to the same category as one of the most famous planetary systems: seven planets around a star named Trapp ist- 1 are the same size as the earth.

In fact, before this, there were actually quite a few super earths discovered by human beings. For example:

1992, Polish astronomers aleksander wolszczan and Del Ferreo discovered three planets orbiting the virgo millisecond pulsar PSR 1257+ 12, about 2,300 light years away from the sun. Two of the exoplanets are about four times the mass of the earth, which is the first discovered exoplanet.

In 2005, gliese 876d, the smallest known extrasolar planet (controversial planet).

In 2006, OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb and HD 69830 b were discovered in Scorpio 2 1 500, 3300 light years away from the Earth.

In 2007, the first terrestrial planet Gliese 581C (Gliese 581C) was discovered, and its weight was about five times that of the earth.

In 20 12, the planet GJ 12 14 b in Ophiuchus and the planet HD 40307 b in an easel were discovered. Three-quarters of the surface of the former is covered by the deep sea, which is the first time that humans have found a planet full of liquid water outside the solar system, but its temperature is as high as 190℃. The latter is seven times the size of the earth.

In 20 13 years, scientists discovered five planets around the star Kepler 62, whose radii were 1.3, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.9 times that of the earth, respectively. The surfaces of Kepler 62e and Kepler 62f may be composed of rocks or rocks+.

Kepler 440b and Kepler 452b were discovered on 20 15. Among them, Kepler 452b in Cygnus, about 1400 light-years away from the Earth, is the first planet discovered by human beings to revolve around a sun-like star, and its size is very close to that of the Earth. Scientists judge that there may be atmosphere and flowing water on the planet, so it is also called "Earth 2.0".

In 20 16, scientists discovered the nearest exoplanet to the solar system-proxima B. At the same time, this planet is also the closest exoplanet to the solar system in the livable zone. Its life span can reach 3 trillion to 4 trillion years.

Gliese 4 1 1 b was found on 20 17, which means rock; In 20 18, an ultrashort planet K2- 14 1b, K2- 155d and Barnard star B (Barnard B or GJ 699b) were discovered. GJ 357 d was discovered on 20 19.

So what is the significance of these two newly discovered super-earths to us human beings? I think there are the following points:

1. Humans may migrate to other planets.

The latest data of world population in 2022 shows that by 2022, the total population of 230 countries in the world will be 7596934 179, and it is still growing. Since ancient times, the earth has never had such a huge population, and the increase in population has also brought new challenges to our society.

Severe challenges such as climate warming, ecological destruction, energy depletion and the possibility of asteroids hitting the earth force us to consider whether human beings need to emigrate to other planets in the future.

And a super planet similar to the earth will provide mankind with the possibility to avoid these risks. Humans need to reproduce, and when the earth is no longer suitable for human survival, other planets can solve this problem.

2. Is there an extraterrestrial civilization in the universe?

Since looking up at the starry sky, human beings have never stopped thinking and exploring this problem. In the last decade or so, scientists all over the world have identified more than 3,000 exoplanets by various methods. In 20 16, Chinese scientists also discovered 58 exoplanet candidates in batches for the first time through the Antarctic large-field survey telescope array.

These findings further confirm that the earth is not special, and there may be a large number of potential terrestrial planets. This conclusion represents that there may be advanced civilizations similar to human beings on other planets, even surpassing human civilization. Of course, this possibility needs to be studied by human beings and confirmed by science and technology.

3. Explore the meaning of human origin itself.

Friends who have read The Legend of Wulin must remember a passage Lv Xiucai said: Who am I and where am I from? And the philosophical significance permeated by such a simple sentence is so powerful. Where did human beings come from and what was their origin? Is it really the result of aliens? The discovery of super earth can give more evidence for human beings to explore their own mysteries.

Perhaps the data and information of the super earth can't fully support the suspense brought by the whole universe to human beings, but it can also indirectly broaden human thinking.

Watching too many sci-fi movies will make you feel pessimistic. Perhaps I am alarmist, but I support Hawking's statement that if human beings want to continue, they must emigrate to Mars or other planets, and the earth will die sooner or later.

Therefore, it is worthy of recognition and appreciation for mankind's tireless search for alien planets. With the continuous development of human science and technology, I hope to hear more news about alien civilizations in my lifetime. Satisfy the curiosity of ordinary people.