Scientists 'discover new exoplanet Rosetta Stone' while searching alien world

Astronomers have discovered a new alien world that would help them understand the atmosphere of rocky planets. In the study published in the Journal Science, a team of astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have announced the discovery of a nearby exoplanet that could be an ideal target for the search for habitability. The newly discovered exoplanet Gliese 486 b, circles a dim red dwarf star just 26 light-years from Earth and is about 1.3 times larger and 2.8 times more massive than Earth, the study reports. 

Exoplanet which could be 'Rosetta Stone'

Trifon Trifonov, a planetary scientist and lead author of the study examined about 350 red dwarf stars to find signs of planets orbiting them. According to the study, Red dwarfs are small stars that are the most common in the universe. In the process, the team of scientists discovered a "rocky super-Earth that's right in our cosmic neighbourhood". "The exoplanet must have the right physical and orbital configuration to be suitable for atmospheric investigation," said planetary scientist Trifon Trifonov in the research published in the Journal. Trifon Trifonov told Space.com that the combination "of physical and orbital characteristics of Gliese 486 b makes it the 'Rosetta Stone' for atmospheric investigations of rocky exoplanets". 

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Gliese 486b orbits its host star on a circular path every 1.5 days, at a distance of 2.5 million kilometres. Despite being so near to its star, the planet has probably conserved part of its original atmosphere. Trifon Trifonov in the study has said that the fact that this planet is so near the sun is exciting because it will be possible to study it in more detail using powerful telescopes such as the imminent James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope which is now being built.” The surface temperature of exoplanet, however, is closer to that of Venus, so Gliese 486 b is not a great candidate for life as we know it, said Trifonov, who envisions a world that's "hot and dry, interspersed with volcanos and glowing lava rivers." 

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