-type earth planet may greatly change the way we look for life on other planets. Astronomers discovered a terrestrial planet orbiting M dwarfs—they don’t have any atmosphere.
This planet without an atmosphere, GJ 1252b is slightly larger than the Earth and orbits its star twice a day. It is considered very hot and desolate due to its close proximity to its stars.
This study shows that many planets orbiting these stars may equally lack an atmosphere and are therefore unlikely to support life because M dwarfs are everywhere.
"The pressure from the stellar radiation is huge enough to blow away the planet's atmosphere," said study co-author Michelle Hill, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside.
Astronomers observed GJ 1252b during the second solar eclipse and studied the infrared radiation of the planet to determine that it has no atmosphere. This solar eclipse occurs when a world passes in front of a star, blocking light from planets and light reflected from stars.
radiation reveals the earth's sultry daytime temperatures, which are believed to exceed 2,242 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is so high that it melts gold, silver and copper from the surface of the earth. Astronomers believe that there is no atmosphere due to heat and so-called low surface pressure. "Even if there are a lot of carbon dioxide that absorbs heat, the researchers concluded that GJ 1252b still cannot accommodate the atmosphere. The planet may have a carbon content of 700 times that of Earth. But it still has no atmosphere. It will increase initially, but then gradually decrease and erode."
"For planets far away from these stars, the condition of this planet may be an ominous sign," Hill said. "That's what we'll learn from the James Webb Space Telescope, which will observe these planets."
