The first exoplanet that the Kepler Space Telescope found in the habitable zone of its star
It's something that I've been interested in since it was discovered in 2011, but now HBO Max is getting ready to release a new series by Ridley Scott — "Raised by Wolves."
The show takes place on Kepler-22b and focuses on a couple of androids that have been "tasked with raising human children" on the planet.
The show looks like it's going to be great, but not everyone's familiar with the planet I find so interesting. Luckily, I'm about to tell a thing or two about the mysterious planet.
Get your thinkin' caps on!
BACKSTORY
Kepler-22b is the first extra-solar planet, or exoplanet, that the Kepler Space Telescope found in the habitable zone of its star. This means that it's close enough to a sun (much like Earth) so that it's not a giant frozen ball floating in space.
Don't pack your bags yet, though, because it's about 600 light-years away.
Kepler-22b is estimated to be 2.4 times larger in diameter in Earth, with a comfortable average surface temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius). It sounds like the perfect vacationing spot to throw on your cutoff jean shorts.
DISCOVERY
NASA first announced Kepler-22b as part of a collection of 54 habitable planet candidates in February 2011. All of these planets were found by the Kepler Space Telescope. The telescope looks for "alien worlds by measuring dips in the parent star's light as the planet zooms across the star."
By December 2011, astronomers were able to confirm Kepler-22b's existence — scientists published about it in the Astrophysical Journal.
WHAT MAKES IT HABITABLE?
Scientists have looked into the variability in energy produced by Kepler-22b's host star, which looks at the stellar rotation — something needed for habitability. Also, it's floating around a Sun-like star in the appropriate so-called "habitable zone."
Sure, this is great but that doesn't mean there are civilians walking around the planet, and living as we do on Earth.
It is only listed in an "optimistic sample" of potentially habitable planets at The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog. The list is filled with planets that may not be very rocky, may not include liquid water, or may orbit at the edge of the habitable zone.
THE PLANET'S FUTURE
The Kepler telescope has found many other "potentially habitable" worlds since Kepler-22b, but the distance of these worlds makes it pretty hard to perform follow-ups. This just means that further work is plausible using ground-based telescopes or future space observatories.
I'm excited to learn more about the planet and hope that there's some new information about it now that it's sort of back in the spotlight with Ridley Scott's new series.
By Matthew Sterner
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