Written by Heba Al-Sayed Tuesday, February 6, 2024 05:00 AM Astronomers have discovered a type of… Exoplanets Called a “super-Earth,” it lies in the habitable zone of its young star. It exists in the universe’s backyard, just 137 light-years away. The planet, called TOI-715 b, is arousing the interest of astronomers who are increasingly interested in the possibility of habitable planets orbiting stars. Very different from our sun.
Although it may seem logical to search for potentially habitable planets when searching for Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars, these are not the only targets astronomers are interested in.
One problem is that most of the planets discovered are much larger than Earth, partly because small planets are difficult to detect. Another problem is that the most common star in our galaxy is not a yellow dwarf star like our Sun, but a smaller, lighter, redder star called a red dwarf.
When researchers discover rocky planets orbiting red dwarfs, of which only a few have been identified so far, it increases the pool of potentially habitable worlds that could exist out there.
Because red dwarf stars emit much less heat than stars like our Sun, the habitable zone around them is much narrower.
The habitable zone refers to the distance from the star at which water can exist as a liquid on the planet’s surface, that is, when the planet’s surface temperature is between 0 and 100 degrees Celsius.
However, it takes much more than just being in the habitable zone for a planet to become habitable and there are other facts that are important in determining habitability, such as how much atmosphere a planet has, how much radiation it receives from its star, and whether it has a mix of oceans and land. .
This particular exoplanet is located in the core of its star’s habitable zone and orbits the star in just 19 days, sitting right next to it.
This helped astronomers discover the planet because it frequently passes in front of its star as seen from Earth. This was also how NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey spacecraft, or TESS, was able to identify it.
With a diameter of about one and a half times Earth, it is the smallest planet in the habitable zone discovered by TESS. To learn more about whether a planet is actually habitable, astronomers need to use another instrument, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, to observe its atmosphere and see if He can detect water there.
