An international group of astronomers, including scientists from the University of Exeter (UK), as stated on the educational institution’s website website, made an important discovery. They discovered three so-called super-Earths at once, orbiting a relatively close orange dwarf star.
Astronomers have discovered three new exoplanets (as worlds outside the solar system are called), which still have candidate status for the title of planet. This means that further observations should confirm this fact.
The new exoplanets belong to the super-Earth class. This means they have a greater mass than our planet, but less mass than the solar system’s ice giants, Uranus and Neptune.
Scientists believe that the three planets have a mass that is 5 to 11 times the mass of Earth. Further observations will help clarify this parameter for each world.
The discovered potential super-Earths orbit the Sun-like star HD 48498, which is relatively close to us at a distance of 55 light-years. The two planets closest to the star have orbital periods of 7 and 38 days. That is, the length of the year is exactly this number of days.
But most of all, astronomers were interested in the third planet, which has an orbital period of 151 Earth days. For Earth it is just over 365 days. This super-Earth is within the habitable zone of its star. This means there could potentially be liquid water on the planet’s surface. And water is the source of potential life.
According to scientists, this discovery is important because the planets were discovered near a star similar to the Sun and this is the planetary system closest to us, with a super-Earth in the habitable zone of its star.
Scientists called the discovery an exciting step forward in the search for habitable planets.
