Thousands of light-years away from the Earth, there may be another planet suitable for life, it is Kepler 69C, and you imagine what it would be like if you were about to travel to this planetary world and witness that kind of life with your own eyes.
Cygnus, 2,383 light-years away from the Earth, is a potential super-Earth, at least that's what it is currently called. Kepler 69C is an exoplanet that is 17 times larger than the Earth. And its mass may also be about 3.5 times that of Earth.
But one problem is that we don't really know if the planet is in its star's habitable zone.
If it were too close to the sun, Kepler 69C would be too hot for liquid water to exist on its surface.
If it is too far from the sun, then it will become a cold world.
What we do know is that Kepler 69C orbits its star about 40 percent closer than Earth orbits the sun.
This may mean that it is not actually a super-Earth. It's possible it's more like a super Venus.
So if you traveled all the way here, would you find life? Or is the thick, hot atmosphere boiling every drop of water on the planet?
Before you begin your journey to Kepler 69C, there is one very important thing to keep in mind. That would be very far, 600 times farther than our nearest Proxima Centauri .
Even if you could go at 1% the speed of light, you wouldn't get there quickly. At this speed, you could circle the Earth in just over 13 seconds. But it would take about 238,000 years to reach Kepler 69C.
To make this trip possible, you'll need a super-advanced hibernation pod, because you don't want to grow old or die before reaching your destination.
You need to find a hibernation technology that can help you sleep for more than 200,000 years. But currently this does not exist. This is just a hypothesis. But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible in the future.
There may be any possibility of life on Kepler 69C when your spacecraft arrives. Might evolve or develop into something completely different. You can think of it this way.
Three hundred thousand years ago, humans were just beginning to make stone tools and spears. Look at you now, you can travel through the galaxy , and you can look back at the planet behind you.
What changes will your journey bring to our human civilization. No matter what, it's too late to turn back.
Based on the planet's distance from the star, we know that Kepler-69C receives a similar amount of sunlight to Venus. Even though its mass is greater than that of Earth. But its density is relatively low.
All this means is that the rocky planet is not made of metal, but rather of silicate and carbonate minerals.
This may make things a little complicated. Kepler 69C may have a very thick atmosphere. What's worse is that this atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide . Do you think you have chosen the wrong super Earth to go to?
Yes, if Kepler 69C is anything like Venus, it will be a very hot planet. All because of the similarity to Venus. Its clouds trap heat. And produce extreme greenhouse effect .
Kepler 69C’s atmosphere will be trapped in an endless cycle of getting thicker and hotter. But no one is saying that this world should be habitable for humans.
Once you take off your helmet, you may instantly melt and suffocate. Like I said, life on this planet is completely different than you think. When you get closer, you will find that the surface temperature is as high as 475 degrees Celsius and the atmospheric pressure will be more than 90 times that of the earth's sea level pressure. It's like being in the ocean at a depth of 900 meters.But you're on land, and in conditions like these, you probably won't find anything resembling the ocean here.
Just like on Venus, the high temperatures would evaporate all the water, and whatever life you might encounter on this planet would need to be able to survive these brutal conditions, or it would have to exist somewhere else beyond the surface.
On Kepler 69C, one of the places you can find is in the clouds. About 50 kilometers away, the temperature will be much lower. Their temperature range is about 30 to 70 degrees Celsius.
Due to its low density, the planet's surface gravity may be about 70% of the gravity found on Earth. This weaker gravity could allow life forms to thrive in Kepler 69C's most habitable skies.
Life can float freely in the atmosphere. This would be another way in which this planet has more in common with Venus than with Earth.
Detectors around Venus have discovered traces of a gas, phosphine, that could be a potential sign of life.
If you find phosphine in Kepler 69C's atmosphere, it may be caused by bacteria that don't need oxygen to survive. But be prepared to hold your nose. The stench has a fishy smell similar to that of rotten fish.
On Earth, phosphine-producing bacteria often live in swamps or wetlands. But on Venus or Kepler 69C, the bacteria could exist in a thick, oxygen-free atmosphere.
So in the end you may have traveled a long, long way to find the smallest and smelliest life form.
On the bright side, you might find alien life, which is what we need to explore in the future.
