(ORDO NEWS) — Astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) proposed to launch a program to search for habitable planets using modern telescopes. This was reported on Friday by the Global Times.
The program proposed by Chinese scientists is called the Exploration of Nearby Habitable Exoplanets (CHES). The main task is to find planets that are as similar as possible to ours: in size, orbital parameters and features of the environment on the surface.
According to the publication, CAS astronomers are going to study celestial bodies within 32 light years from Earth.
“The search for habitable planets is one of the leading directions of fundamental research in the field of astronomy,” said Ji Jianghui, head of the group of scientists at the Zijinshan Observatory (East China).
As he clarified, Chinese experts plan to find out whether our planet should be considered the only one of its kind, as well as how celestial bodies become the “cradle of life.”
“This will allow us to study travel directions for future generations of mankind and even find new places for development,” the astronomer added.
A group of researchers from the CAS proposes to send it to an orbital optical telescope with an aperture of 1.2 meters.
It will allow for five years to continuously monitor about 100 stars, around which there may be planets similar to Earth. At the same time, scientists plan to study dark matter and black holes.
Astronomers have discovered more than 5 thousand planets outside the solar system, of which about 50 are considered habitable. However, most of the celestial bodies hypothetically suitable for resettlement are located several thousand light-years from Earth.
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