Astronomers frequently release awe-inspiring facts about deep space, events we may never experience but which are highly likely to occur in a few billion years. According to a new report, scientists have discovered a planet which gave a glimpse of our own planet’s near future.
As per a report on the Live Science website, they have found a distant planet and named it KMT-2020-BLG-0414. It is located at a distance of 4,000 light-years from the Earth; a world of rock revolving around a white dwarf. More reports on the website state that in 5 billion years, our sun will also transform into a white dwarf.
Before that, the sun will turn into a red giant, destroying planets like Mercury, Venus and even Earth. But if our planet somehow escapes it, it would somewhat resemble the newly discovered distant world. The researchers detailed more on the discovery in the Nature Astronomy journal released on September 26, according to the website.
Keming Zhang, the journal’s lead author and an astronomer at the University of California San Diego, stated, “We do not currently have a consensus whether Earth could avoid being engulfed by the red giant sun in 6 billion years.” According to him, the planet Earth would only remain habitable for another billion years; at a point, the oceans of our planet are believed to be vaporised by the runaway greenhouse effect. This event will most likely take place before the red giant engulfs the solar system, added the astronomer.
As per the mentioned reports, the discovered planetary system is located at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, near the bulge. Initially, the astronomers noticed it in 2020 when it moved close to a light, emitted by another distant star at a distance of 25,000 light years. The way gravity warps space, similarly the system warped the star’s light, becoming a sort of gravitational lens. It made the system detectable.
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