Astronomers Find 2.3-Earth-Mass Super-Earth 25 Light-Years Away in Habitable Zone
Updated
Updated · Sci.News · Jul 1
Astronomers Find 2.3-Earth-Mass Super-Earth 25 Light-Years Away in Habitable Zone
1 articles · Updated · Sci.News · Jul 1
Summary
Gliese 3378b orbits a red dwarf 25 light-years away and appears to be a rocky world about twice Earth’s size, making it one of the nearest potentially habitable exoplanets yet identified.
A 21.45-day orbit places the planet in its star’s habitable zone, where it receives about 90% of the radiation Earth gets from the Sun—conditions that could allow liquid water.
Habitable-zone Planet Finder and the NEID spectrometer were used to refine the planet’s mass and orbit, with the results published in the Astrophysical Journal.
Its biggest unknown is the atmosphere: researchers say Gliese 3378b sits near the “cosmic shoreline,” where stellar radiation can strip air away, as may have happened on Mars.
Because roughly 70% of stars in the Milky Way are red dwarfs, the find could help guide future searches for biosignatures and other signs of life around the galaxy’s most common stars.