Study lists more than 160 exoplanets that could offer habitable zones

According to a study published in the preprint journal arXiv, A team of scientists has identified more than a hundred exoplanets perhaps providing a conducive environment for the development of life as we know it.. In a partnership between the University of Berkeley and Riverside University in the United States, researchers have developed several spatial zones that offer habitable environments.

The list could be an incredible addition to the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) telescope; Currently, the device has a mission to observe 25 exoplanets that may offer habitable zones. The goal is to find a region of space that offers the conditions necessary for life as we know it by searching for biosignatures and other data that confirm the possibility.

To create the list, researchers used data from the Astro2020 Decadal Survey to suggest which exoplanets might be candidates to support life and host habitable zones. The project is part of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Exoplanet Discovery Program and planets were chosen based on the characteristics of their parent star.

“HWO, scheduled for launch in 2040, will seek to address the fundamental question: Is there life beyond the Solar System? “The Astro2020 report recognized that the unprecedented nature of HWO’s scientific objectives and technological requirements will require complex planning and review during the mission design phase.”

More than 160 exoplanets

The study points out that besides the parent stars of these exoplanets, there are other useful data that affect the habitability of these cosmic objects. For example, Explosions on planets and abundances of certain elements can also help detect Determining the characteristics required to be considered habitable.

Scientists highlighted five aspects that could facilitate the discovery of habitable planets: abundance of stellar elements, photometric values, explosion rates, variability estimates and x-ray emissions. This is just the first in a series of papers aimed at helping collect HWO data, according to study researchers.

“We have created a catalog of 164 stars that are promising targets for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a future 6-meter space mission capable of high-contrast direct imaging and spectroscopy. Our catalog is drawn from the NASA Exoplanet Discovery Program’s Mission Star List for HWO, which selects 164 nearby stars whose hypothetical exoplanets are most accessible for high-contrast direct imaging survey in terms of angular separation and planet-star contrast ratio. concludes.

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