They develop a 3D climate model to study twin planets Venus and Earth

An international scientific team is developing a global climate model in 3D of the exoplanet LP 890-9 c, a way to study distant twins of Venus and the earth and know its evolution.

Despite the fact that more than 5,400 planets are known around distant stars, one of the current challenges in science lies in detecting Earth-like planets and studying their atmospheres.

As distance limits observations, an international scientific team in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) participates, based in Granada (southern Spain), is developing a climate model for rocky exoplanets.

This tool seeks to be able to differentiate between planets similar to Venus, on which one cannot live, from those that are similar to Earth and, therefore, would allow life.

The team chose the planet LP 890-9 c, located 106 light-years away and discovered in 2022, to develop a 3D global climate model.

With 1.37 times the diameter of the Earth, the planet revolves around a red dwarf star -smaller and cooler than the Sun- at a distance that places it in the habitable zone, the region where pressure and temperature conditions would allow the existence of liquid water on the surface.

This exoplanet is also very close to the region where a runaway greenhouse effect would occur, such as that seen on Venus.

The possibility that this planet is like Venus makes it an ideal laboratory for studying the atmospheric evolution of Earth-like planets and explaining the climatic divergence between the two.

“Our model is intended to support the interpretation of future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope or with the future Telescope Extremely Large (ELT), and will allow us to better characterize what we see in the atmosphere of these planets.” explained the researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) Diogo Quirino.

Venus was considered until a few decades ago a possible twin of the Earth, although with an atmospheric pressure ninety times greater and more temperature.

“However, it is quite possible that both shared similar childhoods, with volcanic activity releasing gases and forming atmospheres, and possibly liquid water on their surfaces, something we are looking to confirm with EnVision, ESA’s next mission to Venus.”added the IAA-CSIC researcher Gabriella Gilli

The use of 3D models makes it possible to calculate the radiation emitted by the planet in certain regions of the electromagnetic spectrum and to calculate how the infrared radiation emitted by the planet can vary throughout its orbit.

“The idea of ​​this work is to be prepared for when we detect a Venus analogue: that we are able to recognize it as such”, Gilli summed up.

Source: EFE