(ORDO NEWS) — NASA‘s Goddard Space Flight Center announced the discovery of a new Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a star called TOI-700.
This planet has already become the second world, which scientists call potentially habitable.
Article co-authors of the study published on the resource Phys.org. They note that the TOI-700 star system is home to four planets that scientists have discovered to date.
Perhaps future research will open up still unknown worlds. The intrigue is added by the fact that at least two planets of this system are in the habitable zone of their star.
So scientists call the distance of the planet from the star, within which liquid water can be held on the surface of a rocky solid world.
The newly discovered planet was designated TOI-700e. It is located at a distance of just over 100 light years from Earth. By space standards, this is very close.
However, such a distance is very large for people to visit the new world.
The study showed that this world is very similar in size to Earth. It probably has a “stony composition” and could potentially support life on its surface.
“Recently, researchers have focused their efforts on finding and studying systems that are likely to answer key questions about how planets form, how they evolve, and whether life can exist in the Universe,” write the co-authors of the work.
TOI-700e stands out from many other discovered planets because this world is well-suited for future research that could help answer an important question about the conditions of life outside the solar system.”
It is worth saying that the first exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star was discovered in 1995. Since then, more than 5,000 more exoplanets have been discovered, from gas giants to small rocky worlds.
However, of these, only a little over a dozen are solid terrestrial planets and orbit in the habitable zones of their stars.
In this regard, the TOI-700 system is almost unique, because it has already identified two potentially habitable planets.
Astronomers call the second such world an exoplanet called TOI-700d. It, like TOI-700e, orbits within its star’s habitable zone, where surface temperatures can allow liquid water to exist.
By the way, the diameter of TOI-700e is 95 percent of the diameter of the Earth. It is located on the inner edge of its star’s habitable zone, between the planets TOI-700c and TOI-700d.
“Our discovery makes TOI-700 one of the few known systems with two Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zone of their star,” the authors of the scientific work summarize.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.