Chinese Astronomers Plan To Find Habitable Planets Near Earth

PRC specialists have proposed an entire research program that is designed to search for planets on which it will be possible to establish colonies, when technology allows it. The results should also help understand how life originates on planets.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences wants to send a large telescope into Earth orbit, with a lens diameter of more than a meter.

With the help of such equipment, it is possible to study in sufficient detail the stars that are at a distance of 50 light years from Earth. It is planned that the telescope will spend about five years in orbit.

Thus, scientists will be able to find exoplanets in which the conditions will be as close as possible to the earth. This concerns the size, the diameter of the orbit, the distance to the star, and the temperature at the surface.

“The search for planets suitable for life is one of the fundamental tasks of modern astronomy today,” said project leader Ji Jianghei.

Researchers believe that the stars closest to the Earth are simply not yet sufficiently studied. New exoplanets are being discovered all the time, scientists already know several thousand such objects. But all of them are located at a great distance from the Earth, which is measured in thousands of light years.

In addition to searching for exoplanets, the Chinese scientists’ project will help explore black holes and dark matter, about which too little is known today.