The James Webb Telescope Has Discovered a Fully Habitable Neighboring Planet

The James Webb Telescope has discovered T Garden B, a neighboring planet just 12.5 light years away, with ideal conditions to support life.

From the darkest reaches of space, humans have managed to find, little by little, a vast number of potentially habitable planets, stars and interesting galactic formations. The main reason that has driven and inspired space exploration is more linked to the future than to the past. We thus talk about the potential colonization of a neighboring planet located very few light years away, looking for a place where our species can survive. This, in itself, has proven to be a truly difficult task, considering that the conditions necessary for a planet to be Earth-like have proven to be stranger than originally believed.

The Promising Planets

Currently, space exploration agencies around the world have discovered a list of planets that promise ideal conditions for the development of intelligent life. Among so many worlds discovered, there have been several that immediately capture the eye of exoplanet researchers. And it is particularly interesting to know that some of the best options have been found much closer than expected.

T Garden B: Earth's Twin Brother

This is the case of T Garden B, located just 12.5 light years from Earth . This planet orbits the red dwarf T Garden, known as Earth's twin brother. T Garden B has a very similar size to ours, and the temperatures recorded are much more pleasant than those of the Earth itself, since the star it orbits is relatively smaller than the Sun, but it has a little more activity solar.

A Peculiar Star

T Garden's light potential is dimmer than that of the Sun. Its size and composition make it a miracle that this star supports thermonuclear reactions that occur in its core. Due to these factors, the habitable zone of this star is really small and is very close to it.

An Oasis of Life

This has not been a problem for T Garden B, since temperatures on this planet range around 28 degrees on average, opening the door to the existence of liquid water on its surface with an ideal temperature profile for the development of intelligent life.

The Ideal Composition

The composition of T Garden B is the same as ours, with a molten core inside, covered with molten silicate, on top of which there is a mantle of solidified rocks forming the crust.

The Perseverance of Life

If there is one thing that is certain, it is that organic life has proven to be quite persevering, with living organisms capable of sustaining life in inclement situations. Furthermore, the evolution of living organisms can provide the necessary tools for an ideal existence on the planet's surface.

An Unexpected Benefit: Tidal Locking

On the other hand, the fact that the star presents a tidal block may end up becoming something beneficial for humanity. For example, on the warm side of the planet it is possible to install a perpetual solar energy farm, while on the cold side it can be used to establish a greenhouse of artificial farms.

The Dividing Line

Regarding the possible adaptation of human life, it is possible to determine that on these planets there is a kind of Equator, the line where the planet goes from being hot to cold, which opens a window for humanity. And we mention again the adaptability of living beings: sometimes life only needs a spark to exist.

T Garden C: The Little Brother

12.5 light years away, it is likely that on its surface, unknown species are rising and slowly conquering the planet. During 2022, scientists discovered another exoplanet orbiting the T Garden red dwarf, called T Garden C. This has the same characteristics as its brother, and despite being a little colder, it is believed to have a thicker atmosphere, which which would make its surface warmer.

Promising Temperatures

The equilibrium temperature of planet T Garden C is -47 degrees, while that of Earth is -18. But our atmosphere maintains temperatures well above those, a positive factor for its habitability.

The Discovery of the T Garden Star

The T Garden star was discovered in 2003, and astronomers have long thought that it was quite likely that many undiscovered dwarf stars existed within 20 light years of Earth. This is because stellar population studies show that the count of known nearby dwarf stars is lower than expected, and these stars are faint and easy to miss.

An Innovative Approach

The T Garden team thought these faint stars could be found by mining data from some of the huge data sets from optical sky surveys taken by various programs for other purposes in previous years. They reexamined the NEAT asteroid tracking data set and found this star. The star was then located on Palomar Sky Survey photographic plates taken in 1951.

A Significant Discovery

This discovery is significant, as the team did not have direct access to any telescopes and did not include professional astronomers at the time of the discovery.

Distance Measurement

The parallax was initially measured as 0.13 arc seconds, which would have put its distance at just 7.50 light years, making T Garden Star only the third star system in order of distance from the Sun, ranking between Bernard Star and Wolf 359. However, at that time, the anomalous low luminosity and high parallax uncertainty suggested that it was in fact somewhat further away, being one of the Sun's closest neighbors, but not as high in the ranking in order of distance.

In 2009, a more precise parallax measurement of 0.293 arcseconds was made, yielding the now accepted distance of 12.578 light years.

A promising future

Of course, this is a possibility that fills scientists who have been searching for organic life on other worlds for decades. Only time will be able to determine the chances of the planet being explored and colonized by the human race, especially with a candidate as promising as T Garden B.