Oldest Planet Possibly Suitable for Life Found

Astronomers have found the oldest planet yet discovered. It's thought to be habitable, and it's actually very close to us.

The newly discovered planet has been named Kapteyn b. It's 13 light-years away and, according to scientists, 11.5 billion years old. This makes it 2.5 times older than our Earth and only 2 billion years older than the universe itself. "It's incredibly intriguing that life could have evolved there in such a short time," said study author Guillem Anglada-Escude of Queen Mary University of London.

Kapteyn b is five times more massive than our Earth and completes its orbit around the red dwarf in 48 Earth days.

Orbit in the Habitable Zone

Anglada-Escude states that Kapteyn b and its sibling, Kapteyn c, orbit a red dwarf star called Kapteyn's star. They also noted that Kapteyn b, while five times larger than our Earth, is likely habitable, while its sibling, Kapteyn c, is too cold to be habitable.

Kapeyn b is located in the star's habitable zone, at a temperature where liquid water can exist. Perhaps even what we know has evolved. Given its age, I think the absence of life would be surprising. It orbits the red dwarf in 48 Earth days (you'll hear the word "Earth day" a lot in these situations). Kapeyn c, which is cooler, is further away from the red dwarf and orbits it in 121 Earth days.

From Another Galaxy

As additional information, researchers initially assumed that this star system was a member of a dwarf galaxy that the Milky Way had previously collided with and absorbed. The researchers also noted that Omega Centauri, an open star system 16,000 light-years away and a debris field from this galaxy collision, is filled with similar stars and is of the same age. In the title image, we see an illustration of Kapteyn b, with the Omega Centauri open star cluster in the background. Omega Centauri is thought to be the central core of the dwarf galaxy that collided with our Milky Way.

But please do not get carried away by UFO dreams :)