This discovery could usher in a new era for astronomy and help scientists find a place where life is like Earth.
Michelle Kunimoto is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. Her discovery of 17 planets was included in her doctoral thesis and she was extremely excited about her research.
Kunimito included the discovery of 17 new planets in his doctoral thesis
Kunimoto explores space in search of unknown planets. Surprisingly, there can be up to 17 new planets, including large planets that can contain an entire world.
Its discovery, although much appreciated by astronomers in astronomy, is only research and they need time to verify and complete the information before recognizing them as real planets.
“All original data is public. My findings come from what has been found before,” said Dr Kunimoto.
The planets she found were thousands of light years away and could not be seen from Earth, even with the most powerful telescopes. Instead, Kunimoto searches for evidence using the “indirect method”.
“Basically, every time a planet passes in front of a star, it blocks some of the light from that star,” Kunimoto said. “So I was looking for signs of these temporary gradations.”
The discovery of these planets will open a new chapter for scientists to find out where alien life is
Of the 17 cases she found, one was the very special planet KIC-7340288 b. It’s about one and a half times the size of Earth – enough to produce ice, instead of gas like large planets. Indeed, if the size of the planet is not so large, atmospheric pressure has the capacity to create water in the form of rocks. “Obviously, this has important implications for researching signs of life,” said Kunimoto, who also said that if this planet is confirmed, it will be one of the rarest planets found so far.
Kunimoto is no stranger to planetary exploration, having already discovered four planets when she was a student.
