Potential Life in TOI-700? Everything You Need To Know!
Hey! You're about to embark on a journey to explore the stellar system of TOI-700 and
discover what lies beyond our planet! Who knows, we may find a planet with sentient life on it!
So buckle up and join us as we explore the unfamiliar world of exoplanets!
Our mission today is to discover whether the planets of TOI-700 could sustain life.
We'll be studying the star system, the four planets orbiting it, and the conditions which
could make a planet habitable. What we discover could be rock-solid evidence of
life beyond our planet! So let's explore! There are many planets out there in the
universe, and scientists think that one of them might have people living on it.
Space scientists look carefully at the sky to try to find signs of these people and they hope one
day they will be able to find the planet that has people living on it. It might be a long time until
we find it, but it's exciting to think about! Keep watching to explore the possibility of
life with us! ---
We hear the word exoplanet everywhere we go now, but what is it?
Exoplanets are planets that are not in our own Solar System. Scientists have discovered lots
of them since 1990 and some of them are close enough that we might be able to get a picture
of them and find out if anyone lives there in the future! How do we find these planets? TESS
is a special mission that NASA is running right now to find planets around stars in outer space.
Scientists just discovered a new star called TOI-700 that has four planets orbiting around it.
Recent discoveries have revealed that the star system may hold two Earth-sized planets that could
potentially be inhabitable, making it a promising prospect in the search for extraterrestrial life
beyond the Solar System. Regarding our exploration of inhabited planets beyond our Solar System,
we must confront how little we know today. There is no way for us to accurately assess
how often life occurs across the Universe and where it would be most probable to emerge.
Because conditions for life could be predictable, as the Universe is consistent with its laws and
what gets it to work, we think that it is possible to narrow down our requirements,
therefore making it easier to create the habitable planet prototype.
It's just like a little young girl drawing down her perfect idea of a partner.
So the perfect planet has the following boxes to tick:
1 - Rocky planet, like our Earth 2 - Has a thin atmosphere
3 - Being a certain size, similar to the Earth's size
4 - Having liquid water, meaning 5 - Being close enough for us to
study its biosignatures 6 - Orbits a star with a
steady and consistent energy output 7 - With a similar amount of heavy
elements as our Solar System has 8 - When sufficient time has
elapsed to bring about considerable changes to the planet's biosphere.
The first requirement for the emergence of life is a suitable star. If the mass of the star is
too great, its evolution will be rapid and any life on the planet's surface will be scorched
in a few hundred million years, not allowing for elaboration. On the contrary, if the star is of
the less-massive red-dwarf kind, the planet must be situated in a tight orbit to obtain
adequate stellar energy, but atmospheres will be too vulnerable to the star's flaring to endure.
A midpoint has to exist where long-term habitability could be probable.
A significant consideration, one that might be just as critical as the first one, is the
composition of the planet we are exploring. We are interested in planets that have a solid surface we
can stand on and a thin layer of air like Earth so that life forms like us can live on them.
This means that planets have to be just the right size. They can't be too big or too small.
Planets that are too big have thick atmospheres that make it too hard for living things like us
to survive, but if the planet isn't big enough it can't hold onto an atmosphere.
The perfect size for a planet is about twice as big as Earth and only 25-30% bigger.
The discoveries of more than five thousand exoplanets have been documented and noted,
yet very few would be favorable for the possibility of life due to their large sizes and
the volatile composition of gas surrounding them. Most of the exoplanets which are of comparable
size to Earth are too warm, as they are near their stars and pass the definition of a habitable zone.
Scientists have found exciting planets that are far away from us in space. However,
these planets are too close to stars that are constantly shooting out strong rays of energy.
This energy might be too powerful and it could cause these planets to lose their atmospheres,
which makes them a bad place for life to survive. That is why the system encircling the star TOI-700
makes it a great candidate. Let's talk about some characteristics of the star. It's a red dwarf,
part of the M-category of stars. In less technical words, that means that it should be a small,
cool star. It is more or less one-third the size of our Sun and only one-hundredth of
its brightness. However, it still manages to emit enough light and heat for the orbiting planets to
be potentially habitable. While the temperature of the star is still a matter of debate, some
research has suggested it is roughly 1300 Kelvin. In addition to its temperature and size,
the brightness of the star is important to note. In terms of absolute brightness,
TOI-700 is quite faint. However, in terms of nearby stars, it is only about 20% dimmer than
the other stars in its region. This could mean it could sustain a planet with life.
Another important factor in examining a star's habitability is analyzing its rotation rate.
Knowing how fast the star is spinning around its axis will indicate how stable
the system is, and therefore how hospitable the environment is for planetary habitability.
TOI-700 is spinning relatively slowly, making it an attractive candidate for sustenance.
TOI-700 has also existed for over 1.5 billion years, giving life plenty of time to develop a
biosphere in the thin layer which separates the planet's surface and its atmosphere.
If a biosphere were to form here, it would have the potential to
drastically alter the planet's atmosphere. All of these factors together make TOI-700
an excellent candidate for hosting a potentially habitable planet. The star is relatively small and
cool, with a moderate brightness and rotation rate that is not too fast. With all of this in mind,
let us move on to the planets in the system. It has recently been confirmed that TOI-700,
originally discovered by the TESS mission to have three planets orbiting it, now has at least four,
two of which could potentially be habitable. The known exoplanets orbiting TOI-700 include:
- TOI-700b, a super-Earth with a radius 1.43 times that of Earth, orbiting its star once
every 10.3 days at a distance of 0.07 AU. - TOI-700c, a mini-Neptune with a radius 2.6
times that of Earth, orbiting its star once every 16.1 days at a distance of 0.10 AU.
- TOI-700d, a sub-Earth with a radius 1.05 times that of Earth, orbiting its star once every 36.2
days at a distance of 0.17 AU. It's the first Earth-like planet to ever be discovered by
TESS that is also in the habitable zone. - TOI-700e, a mini-Neptune with a radius
0.95 times that of Earth, orbiting its star once every 16 days at a distance of 0.09 AU.
The four planets all orbit within their star's habitable zone,
meaning they could potentially support liquid water and life. Scientists are eager to get a
closer look at these worlds to learn more about their composition and potential habitability.
Beyond the habitable zone that we defined to be not too far nor too close to the host star,
the extended or optimistic habitable zone, yet to be discovered, could still enable surface liquid
water under the correct conditions with some minor modifications to the atmosphere of the planet.
The TOI-700 system is like a neighborhood with four planets, or houses. Two of the planets,
TOI-700b, and c are too hot to have living things like people or animals, so we don't have to worry
about them. They are the closest to the star. The two other planets are the perfect temperature for
people to live in and might have people living on them. That's exciting! They are more probable of
being rocky planets far enough for them not to be annihilated by the stellar activity of TOI-700.
The study we have conducted on the star TOI-700 so far suggests that the habitable
zone of the star stretches far more than the placement of TOI-700d. That means that there
could be another rocky planet located in the habitable zone of the star, that we
have yet to observe with more data from TESS. There is much debate on the viability of life
around an M-class red dwarf star. These stars usually cause their orbiting planets to become
tidally locked so one side always faces the star and the other side faces away.
There is so much to look forward to in the project of studying this stellar system.
Soon, TESS will begin observing the area of the sky which holds TOI-700 and its planets,
gathering data that can show if more planets exist beyond the ones discovered.
Observations via the ESPRESSO instrument on the ESO's Very Large Telescope have been allocated to
assess the motion of TOI-700 over time. These observations are expected to be advantageous
in calculating the masses of the planets around the star, especially the closest ones.
Furthermore, data we are expecting to receive from new survey research regarding the ultraviolet
spectrum of the star could potentially yield valuable insights into the atmospheric behaviors
and properties of its orbiting planets. For example, planets in our solar system
can be hot, but some of them still have the right conditions that could make them livable.
If they have lots of carbon dioxide in their atmosphere, their air will be warm like a blanket
and strong winds will be blowing all around the planet. Even though it won't be easy for life to
live there, it's still possible for some things to survive if the planet has a lot of water.
We are getting closer to finding life beyond Earth by using current and
upcoming observatories, such as Habitable Worlds Observatory and the LUVOIR mission.
The Habitable Worlds Observatory, a ground-based observatory located in Chile, is helping us find
potentially habitable exoplanets in our galaxy. The observatory can detect exoplanets that
could sustain life using advanced imaging and spectroscopic analysis. So far, the observatory
has discovered over 20 planets in the habitable zone, which means they can have liquid water on
their surface and could potentially support life. In addition to the Habitable Worlds Observatory,
the upcoming LUVOIR mission has the potential to find even more evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Launching in the 2030s, LUVOIR is an unmanned mission to seek out and study exoplanets in our
galaxy. The mission is equipped with several instruments that will allow
it to detect the presence of life-sustaining elements, such as water, oxygen, and carbon.
The LUVOIR mission also has the potential to take images of exoplanets that could help us determine
whether they are capable of supporting life. ---
The star system of TOI-700 is an exciting prospect for the search for extraterrestrial life. With
four planets located within their star's habitable zone, the likelihood of discovering life on one of
them increases significantly. While the star is relatively small and cool, its moderate
brightness and rotation rate makes it an ideal candidate for supporting habitable planets.
Through ongoing research and advancements in technology, we can further explore the
system and increase our understanding of the possibility of life beyond Earth.
You've reached the end of this video, if you have a theory on your own,
on whether there's life outside of Earth, don't hesitate to let us know in the comments!
We are interested in what you think! Thank you for watching! See you later. And don’t forget
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