Partnership with National Geographic

Fasten your seat belt: Portugal is heading to other Earths

Conceção artística de um planeta semelhante à Terra.

Conceção artística de um planeta semelhante à Terra. Esta imagem pretende ilustrar um planeta com mais de três vezes a massa da Terra em órbita de uma estrela semelhante ao Sol. Encontra-se a uma distância da estrela que lhe poderá permitir manter água no estado líquido. Créditos: ESO/M. Kornmesser/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)

In partnership with National Geographic Portugal

“Portuguese team discovers another ‘Earth’ and finds hints of existing life.” This title may look like from a sci-fi book, but don’t be surprised if I say that we are not that far from making it real.

Full article (in Portuguese).

By Nuno C. Santos, researcher at IA and Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP). In 2004, Santos was the first author of the article announcing the discovery of the first candidate rocky planet orbiting another star. He is the lead researcher in Portugal of the projects ESPRESSO and HIRES@ELT (ESO), and of the space missions CHEOPS and PLATO (ESA).