Two new Earth-like planets in the habitable zone

Just 16 light-years from our solar system, astronomers have discovered two balls of Earth-like mass in the habitable zone around a red dwarf star called GJ 1002.

The habitable zone is the area around a star where the temperature is right for liquid water and life as we know it theoretically exists.

Although we are still light years away from confirming whether the planets harbor life – or water for that matter – according to the researchers, they meet the requirements to become targets for so-called life missionwhich in the future will search for life in space.

Much smaller than the sun

Named GJ 1002b and GJ 1002c, the newly discovered exoplanets orbit a red dwarf star one-eighth the mass of the Sun.

It also means that the star is relatively cool and dim, and the habitable zone is close to that of the red dwarf.

The inner part of the planet, GJ 1002b, orbits the star in just over ten days, while the outer part, GJ 1002c, has an orbit of just over 21 days.

Two planet hunters on the move

The dim light from the red dwarf star also meant that astronomers had to use two different planet hunters to get a glimpse of our hitherto unknown galactic neighbors:

Tools Carmen And the espressowhich records, among other things, whether there are small periodic changes in the wavelengths of light we receive from distant stars, such as GJ 1002.

If a planet is in orbit around a star, its gravity will cause the star to wobble slightly, as the star and planet orbit a common center of gravity. This registers ESPRESSO.

So far, the positions of the planets are the only thing we know.

But the good news is that the planets’ relatively short distance makes it easy to make detailed observations, examining atmospheres based on the light they reflect, for example.

“Nature seems determined to show that Earth-like planets are very common. With these two, we now know that there are seven planetary systems very close to the Sun,” Says Alejandro Suarez MascarenoHe is the first author of the study published in the scientific journal Astronomy and astrophysics.