WHAT IF YOU LIVED ON KEPLER 22-B?

A planet is located 635 light-years from where you are seated, far out in space. The first planet identified within the habitable zone of a star similar to the Sun It is called Kepler 22-b. When a planet is within a star's habitable zone, there is a possibility that liquid water exists on its surface. Where there is water, there is the potential for life. Human existence

How much time would it take to reach Kepler 22-b? What would the local climate be like? And why would you need to get high before visiting this new planet? Scientists refer to Kepler 22-b as an exoplanet. It is a planet located outside of our solar system. Detecting an exoplanet like Kepler 22-b is typically difficult.

Due to the brilliant brilliance of the stars they orbit, exoplanets are typically concealed from our telescopes. How did scientists devise a countermeasure? Observing the stars to determine if there is anything odd about them. They discovered Kepler 22-b using a technique known as the transit method. Observing Kepler-22, the star that this exoplanet circles, they observed that its brightness fluctuates over time.

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This occurred due to Kepler 22-b obstructing the star's brightness. This allowed astronomers to determine both the size and orbit of 22-b. And it appears that this distant asteroid could become our new home.

However, what do we truly know about the planet Kepler 22-b? Its mass is 36 times that of the Earth, while its radius is 2.5 times that of ours. A year on Kepler 22-b consists of 290 days. Furthermore, it is 15% closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun.If the Earth passed so near to our star, you would be cooked. On the other hand, Kepler 22-b is fortunate to have a sun that is quite comparable to ours, albeit smaller and cooler.

Due to its close proximity to its star, the planet receives roughly the same amount of sunlight as we do. Temperatures on Kepler 22-b could range between 15 and 22 degrees Celsius (60 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit).If you ask me, the climate is comparable to Earth's spring weather and quite hospitable. However, our galaxy can be a cruel place, and not all news is positive. According to certain models, Kepler 22-b rotates on its side.

comparable to our own Uranus. This may seem trivial, but it adds potentially fatal difficulties. This would mean that its north and south poles would be either in darkness or light for six months. This is not merely a question of whether you prefer the day or night. A world like Kepler 22-b that rotates on its side could experience temperatures ranging from boiling to freezing.

which would be detrimental to human life. I know. What a shame! But don't despair yet. Our galaxy is also sufficiently vast to contain some hope. New investigations indicate that Kepler 22-b may be submerged in a 50-meter-deep ocean. And this ocean would serve as a natural climate regulator, keeping extreme temperatures in check. Oceans can store heat in the summer and release it in the winter, resulting in a pleasant environment.

As if you needed another reason to reside near the ocean. However, how would one even reach Kepler 22-b? It would take 635 years even if you were moving at the speed of light. Your best bet may be to hibernate in a technology that protects your body far beyond its normal lifespan while traveling.Like cryogenic sleep.

NASA has previously created a cryosleep chamber that can reduce an astronaut's body temperature to as low as 32 degrees Celsius (89 degrees Fahrenheit). This would result in natural hibernation, during which catheters would deliver nutrition and remove waste from the body. However, even in cryosleep, the journey would be exceedingly long and hazardous.

This brings us to the most hazardous portion of our adventure. Kepler 22-b's remaining unknowns are exhaustive. To begin with, we do not fully understand the gravity there. It might be twice as powerful as Earth's. Consequently, a 10 kg (22 lb) sack of potatoes would now weigh 20 kg (44 lb). Your body would also be considered. Your present weight is 75 kg (165 lb), correct?

Good luck suddenly handling 150 kilogrammes (330 pounds) of you. For safety purposes, settlers like yourself would need to bulk up. Incredibly, bulk up. Increase your likelihood of being able to walk on Kepler 22-b only through severe strength training. And once you reached your ideal body on Earth, you would have to figure out how to keep it for the 635 years of travel at the speed of light.

However, humans are not the only species affected by the heavier gravity. Plants brought from Earth for oxygen and nutrition might not survive on Kepler 22-b when you try growing them there. And if you brought any animals with you, they would have to accelerate their evolution. Higher gravity could result in the evolution of more legs for locomotion.

Additionally, it might determine the position and size of internal organs. However, the mystery does not end there. Scientists still don’t know for sure that Kepler 22-b is even a rocky planet. It may be composed of gas, similar to Neptune. Or it could be entirely covered with water. If you and other first settlers woke up from your cryosleep and found yourselves on a gas planet, 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 22-b is a rocky planet would be like hitting the jackpot then, right? 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 true of Kepler 22-b, the only way for us to live on it would be to use robots that could build underground shelters.

The place where maybe, just maybe, the temperature might be cool enough for you to bear. Venus is also located within a habitable zone. 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 keeps on being the perfect habitat for humanity. But sometimes the slightest change can shake its ideal balance.

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