635 light years from where you are sitting, way out there in outer space, lies a planet. The first planet to be discovered within the habitable zone of a sun-like star. Its name is Kepler-22b. When a planet is located within a star's habitable zone, it means there's a chance that liquid water exists on its surface, and where there's water, there's also the possibility of life - human life. How long would it take to get to Kepler-22b? What would the weather be like over there? And why would you need to get jacked before arriving on this new planet? Here's what would happen if you live on Kepler-22b.
Okay, but what do we really know about Kepler-22b? Its mass is 36 times that of Earth, with a radius two and a half times larger than ours. One year on Kepler-22b is 290 days. It's also located 15 times closer to its star than we are to the sun. If Earth scooched over that close to our star, you'd be fried. Kepler-22b, on the other hand, is lucky to have a sun that is remarkably similar to ours but also smaller and cooler. This close proximity to its star allows the planet to receive about the same amount of sunlight as we get over here.
The temperature on Kepler-22b could be about 15 to 22 degrees Celsius, similar to Earth's spring weather and quite habitable if you ask me. But our galaxy can be a cruel place, and not everything is good news. Some models suggest Kepler-22b is rotating on its side, kind of like our very own Uranus. This may sound insignificant, but it adds potentially deadly complications. This would mean that its north and south poles are shrouded in either darkness or sunlight for half a year. And this ain't simply a matter of whether you're a daytime or a nighttime person. A world like Kepler-22b spinning on its side means that temperatures could change from boiling to freezing, which wouldn't be great for human life. I know, what a bummer. But don't despair yet because our galaxy is also big enough to include some hope.
But hold on, how would you even make it all the way to Kepler 22b? I mean, even if you were traveling at the speed of light, it would take you 635 years. Your best bet could be to hibernate through the trip inside a device that preserves your body way past its natural lifespan. Like cryogenic sleep. NASA has already developed a cryo-sleep chamber that can lower an astronaut's body temperature to as low as 32 degrees Celsius. This would trigger natural hibernation, during which catheters would provide your body with nutrients and remove any waste. But even in cryosleep, it would be quite the long, risky trip.
This leads us to the most dangerous part about this journey - all that remains unknown about Kepler-22b. For starters, we still don't really know what gravity is like there. It could be twice as strong as our planets. If that was the case, a 10-kilogram sack of potatoes would now weigh 20 kilograms. And your body would also factor in. Is your current weight 75 kilograms? Well, good luck suddenly dealing with 150 kilograms of you. And just for safety, settlers such as yourself would need to bulk up, really bulk up. Only through intense strength training would you increase your chances of being able to walk on Kepler 22b.
And once you got jacked on Earth, you'd have to figure out ways to preserve that muscle through all 635 years of light speed travel. But humans aren't the only life form that would be affected by stronger gravity. Plants brought from Earth for oxygen and nutrition might not survive on Kepler-22b when you try growing them there. And if you brought any animals with you, they'd need to step up the evolution process. Higher gravity could lead to creatures developing additional legs to move around. It could also determine the location and size of internal organs.
But the mysteries don't end there. Scientists still don't know for sure that Kepler-22b is even a rocky planet. It might be gaseous, similar to Neptune, or it could be entirely covered with water. If you and the other first settlers woke up from your cryosleep and found yourselves on a gas planet, yeah, that would be a downer. You wouldn't have a solid surface to even land your ship, not to mention a place to set up camp. In that case, you and your crew would need to figure out how to build a cloud city orbiting the planet. If you landed on an ocean planet, a submarine town would be in order.
Discovering Kepler-22b is a rocky planet would be hitting the jackpot, then, right? Well, not so fast. Venus is also made of rock, and yet its dense atmosphere consisting of greenhouse gases makes it uninhabitable. With scorching temperatures far too hot for liquid water. If this was also the situation with Kepler-22b, our only chance at thriving on this exoplanet would be to employ robots that could build underground shelters. The place where, maybe just maybe, the temperature might be cool enough for you to bear.
It just goes to show you that a prime location is no guarantee for human survival. And as exciting as it might seem to find other worlds to inhabit, our own Earth remains the perfect habitat for humanity. But sometimes, the slightest change can shake its ideal balance. Just turn off the oxygen supply for five seconds, and a raging sunburn is in the cards for you.
Kepler-22b's Characteristics And Habitable Zone
Kepler-22b is what scientists call an exoplanet. It's a planet outside our solar system. Spotting an exoplanet like Kepler-22b is often not easy. The bright glare of the stars they orbit tends to keep them hidden from our telescopes. What did scientists come up with to get around it? Looking at the stars themselves to see if they can find anything unusual about them. They spotted Kepler-22b using what's called the transit method. They watched Kepler-22, the star this exoplanet orbits around, and noticed that its brightness changes over time. That was because Kepler-22b was blocking the star's light. With this, scientists were able to learn both the size of 22b and how it orbits. And it looks like this distant space rock could become our next home.Okay, but what do we really know about Kepler-22b? Its mass is 36 times that of Earth, with a radius two and a half times larger than ours. One year on Kepler-22b is 290 days. It's also located 15 times closer to its star than we are to the sun. If Earth scooched over that close to our star, you'd be fried. Kepler-22b, on the other hand, is lucky to have a sun that is remarkably similar to ours but also smaller and cooler. This close proximity to its star allows the planet to receive about the same amount of sunlight as we get over here.
The temperature on Kepler-22b could be about 15 to 22 degrees Celsius, similar to Earth's spring weather and quite habitable if you ask me. But our galaxy can be a cruel place, and not everything is good news. Some models suggest Kepler-22b is rotating on its side, kind of like our very own Uranus. This may sound insignificant, but it adds potentially deadly complications. This would mean that its north and south poles are shrouded in either darkness or sunlight for half a year. And this ain't simply a matter of whether you're a daytime or a nighttime person. A world like Kepler-22b spinning on its side means that temperatures could change from boiling to freezing, which wouldn't be great for human life. I know, what a bummer. But don't despair yet because our galaxy is also big enough to include some hope.
The Journey: Traveling to Kepler-22b
New studies suggest that Kepler-22b might be covered in an ocean, 50 meters deep. That ocean would be able to act as natural climate control, keeping the wild temperatures at bay. You see, an ocean can store heat in the summer and release it during the winter, which results in a mild climate. Like you needed another reason to live close to the water.
But hold on, how would you even make it all the way to Kepler 22b? I mean, even if you were traveling at the speed of light, it would take you 635 years. Your best bet could be to hibernate through the trip inside a device that preserves your body way past its natural lifespan. Like cryogenic sleep. NASA has already developed a cryo-sleep chamber that can lower an astronaut's body temperature to as low as 32 degrees Celsius. This would trigger natural hibernation, during which catheters would provide your body with nutrients and remove any waste. But even in cryosleep, it would be quite the long, risky trip.
This leads us to the most dangerous part about this journey - all that remains unknown about Kepler-22b. For starters, we still don't really know what gravity is like there. It could be twice as strong as our planets. If that was the case, a 10-kilogram sack of potatoes would now weigh 20 kilograms. And your body would also factor in. Is your current weight 75 kilograms? Well, good luck suddenly dealing with 150 kilograms of you. And just for safety, settlers such as yourself would need to bulk up, really bulk up. Only through intense strength training would you increase your chances of being able to walk on Kepler 22b.
And once you got jacked on Earth, you'd have to figure out ways to preserve that muscle through all 635 years of light speed travel. But humans aren't the only life form that would be affected by stronger gravity. Plants brought from Earth for oxygen and nutrition might not survive on Kepler-22b when you try growing them there. And if you brought any animals with you, they'd need to step up the evolution process. Higher gravity could lead to creatures developing additional legs to move around. It could also determine the location and size of internal organs.
But the mysteries don't end there. Scientists still don't know for sure that Kepler-22b is even a rocky planet. It might be gaseous, similar to Neptune, or it could be entirely covered with water. If you and the other first settlers woke up from your cryosleep and found yourselves on a gas planet, yeah, that would be a downer. You wouldn't have a solid surface to even land your ship, not to mention a place to set up camp. In that case, you and your crew would need to figure out how to build a cloud city orbiting the planet. If you landed on an ocean planet, a submarine town would be in order.
Discovering Kepler-22b is a rocky planet would be hitting the jackpot, then, right? Well, not so fast. Venus is also made of rock, and yet its dense atmosphere consisting of greenhouse gases makes it uninhabitable. With scorching temperatures far too hot for liquid water. If this was also the situation with Kepler-22b, our only chance at thriving on this exoplanet would be to employ robots that could build underground shelters. The place where, maybe just maybe, the temperature might be cool enough for you to bear.
It just goes to show you that a prime location is no guarantee for human survival. And as exciting as it might seem to find other worlds to inhabit, our own Earth remains the perfect habitat for humanity. But sometimes, the slightest change can shake its ideal balance. Just turn off the oxygen supply for five seconds, and a raging sunburn is in the cards for you.