Discovery of a new habitable planet the size of Earth
Discovery of a new habitable planet the size of Earth
The US Space Agency (NASA) has discovered a habitable exoplanet the size of Earth, indicating that it orbits a star about 100 million light-years from Earth, according to what Anatolia Agency reported, Wednesday, January 11, 2023, from NASA.
NASA said in a statement that the Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) discovered an Earth-sized planet located in the “habitable zone” of the Dolphin (Dorado) constellation.
This exoplanet, called "TOI 700 e", is located at a distance from its star that it orbits, which allows the presence of water on the planet's surface, according to what was reported by the Anatolia Agency.
Emily Gilbert, a researcher at NASA, said in the statement: “This is one of the few systems we know of that includes multiple, small, habitable planets,” stressing that this discovery is an exciting advance for closely following the TOI 700 system.
Gilbert also noted that the recently discovered planet, TOI 700 e, is about 10% smaller than the previous discovery, TOI 700 d, and said that the TESS mission's observational procedures are also helping to find increasingly smaller worlds.
This celestial body is the fourth planet discovered by NASA in the orbit of the small dwarf star M TOI 700, according to what CNN reported, Tuesday, January 10, 2023, indicating that the planet is rocky and its size is 95% of the size of our world.
Another planet was discovered in 2020, called TOI 700 d, also the size of Earth. These two planets are located in the habitable zone around their star, or at the appropriate distance from the star that allows liquid water to be available on their surfaces.
The possibility of liquid water indicates that the two planets themselves may be, or once were, habitable, according to CNN.
Planet "TOI 700 d"
The satellite responsible for the "Exoplanet Survey", known as the TESS mission, had previously found several planets, but they were not habitable and were not close to the size of planet Earth except in very rare cases, according to the German DW website.
The TESS mission, which was launched in 2018, monitors large parts of the night sky for 27 days at a time, observing the brightest stars and tracking changes in their brightness. When the brightness decreases, this means the presence of planets passing in front of it as it orbits around it, according to CNN.
It is noteworthy that a search conducted by NASA for signs of life on the planet Mars and some promising evidence so far, as it became clear after examination and analysis that the rocks found by a NASA rover contain “organic compounds that deserve further examination and attention.” ", and may be linked to ancient microbes.
The two important specimens were found in the Jezero crater, located north of the Martian equator, which is claimed to have been the site of a river delta about 3.5 billion years ago. This is according to the British newspaper The Times published in its report on Monday, September 19, 2022.
Source: websites