Ross-128 B

Properties:

Mass: 1.8 Earth masses

Temperature: 213–301 K

Semi-Major Axis: 0.0496 AU

Orbital Period: 9.8658 days


Above is an artist's impression of Ross-128B.


Ross-128 B is a confirmed Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting the star Ross-128 around 11 light-years from Earth. In 2018, astronomers used the near-infrared spectra to discover traces of several elements on Ross-128 B, like C(carbon), M(magnesium), O(oxygen), Al(Aluminum), K(Potassium), Ca(Calcium), Ti(Titanium), and Fe(Iron). The planet also has temperatures that are suitable for life. While there are fair estimates on the eccentricity and radius of Ross-128 B's orbit, there are large margins of error so they aren't absolutely certain. Since the planet orbits so close, it is likely tidally locked which doesn't exactly help its case for habitability.


Ross-128 B receives 38% more sunlight than Earth does so there's a good chance that lots of water evaporate on this exoplanet. That being said, the exoplanet is believed to have significant cloud cover which is why its temperatures aren't extraordinarily high. Because we can't see Ross-128B transit(pass in front of) its star from Earth, we don't know if it has an atmosphere. However, outside that, the planet has masses and sizes similar to Earth and its star is very stable, making it one of the most Earth-like planets humanity knows of.

Citations/Attributions

Ross 128 b. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_128_b. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

File:Artist's impression of the planet Ross 128 b. Provided by: Wikimedia commons. Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artist%27s_impression_of_the_planet_Ross_128_b.jpg. License: CC BY 4.0