Aliens could live on this imaginary planet, scientists say – and now we need to find it

A star-strewn sky in Lanzarote (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Scientists have imagined what an Earth-like planet orbiting relatively nearby could look like – and will now set out to find it.

Researchers are looking for alien life in a variety of ways: the James Webb Space Telescope is beginning its first observations, and further equipment such as the Extremely Large Telescope and others will be hunting for planets similar to our own.

Of particular interest to those researchers are the Sun-like stars nearest to our own Earth, known as α Centauri A and α Centauri B. Their proximity and similarity to our own star mean they could be a useful place to go hunting for other kinds of life.

To assist in that hunt, researchers from ETH Zurich have conducted detailed simulations of what a hypothetical rocky planet, orbiting in the habitable zone of those stars, might look like. Since we have detailed observations of the stars themselves, scientists can say with some confidence how a possible planet could be constructed.

They found that the planet would look remarkable similar to our own. It would be able to store water like our Earth, as well as having some important differences such as being less geologically active.

Scientist now hope that hypothetical work can inform the very real search for any such planets like our own. Work such as this could help guide the construction and use of infrastructure such as space and ground-based telescopes, the scientists say.

The probability of actually finding an older sibling for Earth could be good, researchers say. Between 2022 and 2035, the two stars will be separated enough to get a good luck at each without light pollution from the other, scientists say.

The researchers report their findings in an article, ‘A model Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of Centauri A/B’, published in The Astrophysical Journal.