NASA researchers have discovered a “Super Earth” in our Milky Way galaxy that is within its host star’s habitable zone and may contain water on its surface, which could indicate the presence of life.
TOI-715 b, which the scientists discovered using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), lies 137 light years from Earth, and is estimated to be one and a half times as wide as Earth.
Although it rests much closer to its star than the Earth to the Sun and orbits it every 19 days (as opposed to the Earth’s 365-day orbit) the star is a red dwarf, far cooler than our Sun, thus permitting the planet the possibility of life.
“These planets make far closer orbits than those around stars like our Sun, but because red dwarfs are smaller and cooler, the planets can crowd closer and still be safely within the star’s habitable zone,” NASA stated.
“The tighter orbits also mean those that cross the faces of their stars – that is, when viewed by our space telescopes – cross far more often.”
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