Astronomers Discover Venus-Like Planet Orbiting a Dim Star Kepler-1649

⪻ Articles ⪼

Astronomers using NASA՚s Kepler space telescope have discovered a Venus-like planet orbiting a dim star called Kepler-1649. Is one-fifth the diameter of our Sun and is located 219 light-years away from Earth.

Image Shows Super - Venus

Highlights

  • The tight orbit causes the flux of sunlight reaching the planet to be 2.3 times as great as the solar flux on Earth.
  • The solar flux on Venus is 1.9 times the terrestrial value.
  • The Venus-like planet tightly embraces its low-temperature star Kepler-1649 by encircling it every nine days.
  • The discovery will provide insight into the nature of planets encircling around M dwarf stars.
  • Astronomers call the newly found planet a super-Earth because it has about 3.6 times the mass of our Earth.
  • One planet allows life to thrive, and one does not, despite having similar masses, comparable densities, etc,
  • A member of the Kepler 1649b discovery team.
  • Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days.
  • It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
  • It has densest atmosphere of four terrestrial planets, consisting of more than 96 % CO2.
  • The atmospheric pressure at its planet՚s surface is 92 times that of Earth.

About Kepler Space Telescope

  • KST is an unmanned space observatory launched in 2009.
  • It is tasked with determining how commonly, Earth-like planets occur throughout the Milky Way galaxy.
  • Kepler is part of NASA՚s Discovery Program of relatively low-cost, focused primary science missions.
  • KST has been designed for a statistical mission and not to probe into the environmental conditions of planets that exist in the so-called Goldilocks zone of their stars.

✍Examrace Team at