An Earth-sized Exoplanet Appears 72 Light Years Away

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – An international team of researchers discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet 72 light years away. The planet is named K2-415b.

Reported Space.com, Wednesday (15/2/2023), this exoplanet orbits near the red dwarf star K2-415. K2-415b is relatively close to Earth, though not the closest to Earth.

The researchers identified the exoplanet from NASA data on the now-defunct Kepler telescope, later mission K2, and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

The closest exoplanet to Earth is Proxima Centauri b, which is only four light years away.

According to an expert from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI) in Japan, Teruyuki HIrano, the K2-415 system is one of the coldest and lowest-mass stars, so it can be the location of an exoplanet.

“One motivation for investigating planets around low-mass stars is to understand and clarify whether they form and develop like planets around solar-type stars,” said Hirano.

Solar type stars are like the sun. Meanwhile, red kanai stars are known to be cooler and smaller.

The more exoplanets they discover, the more humans can learn about their star system. As a result, there is also a higher chance of finding potentially habitable exoplanets.

Unfortunately, K2-415b is not in the habitable zone of the star. The distance between the planet and its red dwarf star does not allow it to have water. However, Hirano is optimistic that there are other exoplanets in the system.

“It is possible that there are other planets roaming the system that are in the habitable zone,” said Hirano.