About YZ Ceti b:
- It is a rocky earth-sized exoplanet rotating around a small red dwarf star.
- It is barely 12 light-years from Earth.
- The astronomers determined that the planet takes just a couple of Earth days to circle its star.
Why does the magnetic field matter?
- The survival of a planet’s atmosphere may well depend on its strong magnetic field.
- The magnetic field protects the planet’s atmosphere from being eroded by the charged particles blowing in from its star.
Key Facts about the Exoplanets
- These are also called extrasolar planets.
- These are a planetary body which is outside the solar systemand that usually orbit a star other than the Sun.
- Exoplanets come in a wide variety of sizes, from gas giants larger than Jupiter to small, rocky planets about as big around as Earth or Mars.
- These are made up of elements similar to those of the planets in our solar system, but their mixes of those elements may differ.
- Most exoplanets are found through indirect methods: measuring the dimming of a star that happens to have a planet pass in front of it, called the transit method
