A NEW ‘Super Earth’ planet has been uncovered orbiting near the ‘Habitable Zone’ of its star, according to researchers.
Japanese astronomers said the exoplanet, named Ross 508 b, is located approximately 36.5 light-years away from Earth.
1
The foreign world was uncovered via the Subaru telescope at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Hawaii.
Ross 508 b has four times the mass of Earth and orbits its red dwarf Sun every 10.75 days.
Based on what researchers know about planetary masses, the world is likely to be rocky instead of gaseous.
Despite its relatively close distance to Earth, the alien planet cannot be spotted with the naked eye.
In fact, even with powerful instruments, it’s quite difficult for researchers to detect planets orbiting faint or dimmer stars.
That means this new discovery shows that astronomers’ techniques for locating exoplanets are improving.
The ‘Habitable Zone’
Nasa defines the ‘Habitable Zone’ as the distance from a star at which liquid water could exist on orbiting planets’ surfaces.
Most read in Tech
While Ross 508 b is near its ‘Habitable Zone’, it is unlikely to support life – as we know it, that is – per Science Alert.
Because Earth is our only template, scientists are still not sure what life could look like on foreign exoplanets.
“Life on other planets might be like nothing on Earth – it could be life as we don’t know it,” Nasa said in a statement.
“But it makes sense, at least at first, to search for something more familiar. Life as we know it should be easier to find. And ‘the light’s better’ in the habitable zone.”
The hunt for habitable exoplanets is on…
For decades, astronomers have been trying to find a planet like our own Earth, which can support life.
To date, astronomers have discovered around 5,000 exoplanets, some of which could host life.
Of these exoplanets, “super-Earths” are the ones of most interest to researchers.
Super-Earths are a class of exoplanets with a mass higher than Earth’s, but substantially below those of Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17 times Earth’s, respectively.
Nasa’s new James Webb Space Telescope will soon examine two hot super-Earth planets – one with oceans made of lava.
“They will give us fantastic new perspectives on Earth-like planets in general, helping us learn what the early Earth might have been like when it was hot like these planets are today,” Laura Kreidberg of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy said in a statement.
Researchers are also hoping that this mission will provide them with new data and images that will better our understanding of the universe in general.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
