Another land like ours? The Brazilian discovers a new solar system

For many years, scientists have been searching for other planets in the universe, either to find a new home in cataclysmic states or perhaps to find other forms of evolved life.

Think about it, for nearly ten years astronomers and other scientists have been using the High Resolution Planet Search Program (HARPS), from the La Silla telescope, to try to find planets like Earth or that are similar to our own.

The latest discovery made by HARPS was a solar system with a star very similar to our Sun, as well as two planets very similar to Jupiter and Neptune.

The event was reported here, at Multiverso Notícias, and can be seen on this page. The discovery happened by chance and the scientists responsible for the feat were led by a Brazilian: Thiago Ferrerafrom the University of the South Pacific.

This new solar system is very close to ours, 175 light-years away (believe me, by astronomical standards, that’s a little!).

He called it HIP 104045 and so far he has discovered two planets: one very similar to Jupiter, but with half the mass, and one similar to Neptune, but with 2.5 times the mass.

How does this discovery affect our lives?

Although the team led by Ferrera only found two planets in this new solar system, this is a major discovery so far.

It’s common for us to find new celestial bodies in our solar system even today, so we likely haven’t seen everything about HIP 104045 yet.

For this reason, it is very likely that it will present a planet very similar to Earth. What happens is that the presence of gaseous planets with a mass similar to that of Jupiter favors the protection of the inner solar system.

In other words, our solar system consists of eight planets, four of which are terrestrial (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and the other four are gaseous (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune).

The terrestrial or inner planets are closer to the Sun, and they are composed of rocks and heavy elements, in addition to being much smaller.

On the other hand, gaseous or exoplanets are farther from the sun and consist of dust, gas and lighter elements, in addition to being much larger.

This pattern is repeated in other solar systems with different amounts of planets. As we know, Jupiter, due to its huge size, attracts many objects that can crash into the Earth, but this does not happen because of the “protection” of Jupiter.

Therefore, other systems that provide such protection may help develop inner planets with a life-prone biosphere.

However, even if this were possible, it is not something simple or easy to happen, and this is exactly what scientists are studying to give us an increasingly better understanding of the universe.