Karen Latchana Kenney - Breakthroughs in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Karen Latchana Kenney

Lerner Publications Minneapolis

Copyright 2019 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

Lerner Publications Company

A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

First Avenue North

Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com .

Main body text set in Aptifer Sans LT Pro Regular 12/18.

Typeface provided by Linotype AG.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kenney, Karen Latchana, author.

Title: Breakthroughs in the search for extraterrestrial life / Karen Latchana Kenney.

Description: Minneapolis : Lerner Publications, [2019] | Series: Space exploration. Alternator Books | Audience: Ages | Audience: Grades to | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018016811 (print) | LCCN 2018034691 (ebook) | ISBN 9781541543768 (eb pdf) | ISBN 9781541538726 (lb : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Study group : U.S.) Juvenile literature. | Life on other planetsJuvenile literature. | Interstellar communicationJuvenile literature. | Outer spaceExplorationJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC QB54 (ebook) | LCC QB54 .K46 2019 (print) | DDC 576.8/39dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018016811

Manufactured in the United States of America

1-45055-35882-7/23/2018

Contents

Introduction

A Life- Friendly Planet?

I n July 2005, European astronomers began watching a star light-years away from Earth called Ross The astronomers used the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS). The scientific instrument was made to search for exoplanets planets orbiting stars outside of our solar system.

This image shows star trails, or the motion of stars in the sky, over the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher in Chile.

Ross is a red dwarf star. This is one of the most common types of stars in the universe. Red dwarfs are smaller and cooler than our sun.

Twelve years later, in November 2017, the astronomers announced that they found a planet similar in size to Earth near the star. The astronomers called the planet Ross 128b. It seemed rocky, and possibly in its stars Goldilocks zone not too close or too far away from the star. This meant its

An artists image shows the planet Ross 128b with the star Ross in the background.

temperatures could be similar to Earths, and it was possible for water to exist there. These conditions are ideal for life to exist on Earth. Scientists wonder if extraterrestrial life exists on Ross 128b.

An illustration of Ross 128b imagines what the surface of the planet might look like, including rocky features and water.