East Africa News Post

Complete News World

They discovered a super-Earth located 137 light-years away from us

They discovered a super-Earth located 137 light-years away from us

A team of astronomers led by Georgina Drensfield, from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, was able to Discover an exoplanet An Earth-like rock located about 137 light-years away from us.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The planet, called TOI-715, was located by NASA's TESS probe, which stands for… Transit of the exoplanet survey satelliteon the Spanish exoplanet observation satellite.

This exoplanet has captured scientists' attention because it is located in the habitable zone around its sun, a red dwarf that orbits in just 19 days. Unlike our Sun, red dwarfs emit much less heat, making the habitable zone (where the planet's surface temperature ranges between 0 and 100 degrees Celsius) much smaller. TOI-715's frequent orbits around the Sun made it easy for astronomers to identify.

TOI-715 is considered a “super-Earth”, as it is 1.5 times the size of Earth and is the smallest planet in the region explored by the TESS probe. To learn more about the planet's properties, such as its atmosphere or whether it contains water, scientists will have to use other types of instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope.

Editor's recommendations




See also  SpaceX has launched a US military drone on a secret mission