Three Habitable Planets Surround Gliese 667C [Infographic]
Scientists believe that three planets orbiting star Gliese 667C are habitable. The three planets are all located in the habitable zone of the nearby star.
An international team of scientists is credited with the discovery, which breaks the record on the number of potentially habitable planets orbiting a single star.
The three potentially habitable planets are known as super-Earths, because they have less mass than Neptune, but they are larger than Earth. Because of their orbit around Gliese 667C, they are possible candidates for supporting life as we know it.
Gliese 667C is a star located 22 light-years from Earth. It is orbited by at least six planets, though researchers believe there could be seven. The star is part of a three-star system, meaning the potentially habitable planets would see three suns during the day.
Mikko Tuomi, co-leader of the study about Gliese 667C’s habitable planets, explained:
“We knew that the star had three planets from previous studies, so we wanted to see whether there were any more. By adding some new observations and revisiting existing data we were able to confirm these three and confidently reveal several more.”
As for finding three planets inside Gliese 677C’s habitable zone? Tuomi commented, “Finding three low-mass planets in the star’s habitable zone is very exciting!”
Gliese 667C is the faintest star of the three-star system. It is also cooler and dimmer than our sun. Because of this, the habitable zone is the same distance away from the alien sun as Mercury is from ours.
While the discovery of three habitable planets is exciting in its own right, astronomers are also interested to see what the larger implications may be. Now, scientists hope to study one star and find several habitable planets, rather than studying 10 stars to find one.
And it also seems that three habitable planets is the max, at least for Gliese 667C. The star’s habitable zone is packed full, making it unlikely that a fourth planet could fit into the zone.
[Infographic via Space.com, Image via ESO/L. Calçada]
