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(Motherland) - A 'super-Earth' has been found just 37 light-years away from our planet.
A 'super-Earth' has been discovered merely 37 light-years away from Earth, residing within the 'habitable zone' of a red dwarf star. This groundbreaking finding was made using a completely new tool on Japan's Subaru Telescope in Hawaii (USA).
This event presents an opportunity to contemplate the possibility of life existing on planets around stars close to our Solar System.
Scientists have named this super-Earth Ross 508 b. According to NASA's data, Ross 508 b orbits an M-type red dwarf star. Its mass equals that of Earth multiplied by four.
According to scientists, red dwarf stars are more easily observed in infrared wavelengths. In pursuit of evidence for planets around red dwarf stars, the Astronomical Biology Center in Japan has developed an infrared observation device mounted atop the Subaru Telescope - the Infrared Doppler instrument (IRD) on the 8.2-meter Subaru telescope - conducting radial velocity (RV) measurements of Ross 508.
First fruits of this quest show signs of a super-Earth, four times the mass of Earth, orbiting the red dwarf star Ross 508, just 37 light-years away in the Serpens constellation.
This planet, Ross 508 b, boasts a year equivalent to only 10.8 Earth days and resides within the inner edge of the 'habitable zone' (Goldilocks) around its host star. Despite its proximity to the red dwarf star Ross 508, the 'habitable zone' of planet Ross 508 b is even closer to its 'habitable zone' than Earth's - our Sun.
Interestingly, initial observations suggest an elliptical orbit, implying that for a portion of the orbit, planet Ross 508 b will be within the habitable zone - an area where suitable conditions for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface might prevail. Whether water or life truly exists remains questions for further exploration.
This will also be a significant target for future observations to explore the potential for life to exist around low-mass stars like the M-type dwarf it orbits.
The exact eccentricity of Ross 508 b's orbit remains unclear. Deeper studies on this matter could offer vital insights into the planet's origins.
FEATURES OF RED DWARF STARS
The star Ross 508's radius is approximately 0.21 times that of the Sun and its mass is approximately 0.18 times the mass of the Sun, resulting in a density of about 26.5 g/cm³.
Red dwarf stars make up three-quarters of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy and abound in the vicinity of our Solar System, presenting excellent targets for the search for exoplanets in our local neighborhood.
Three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy are red dwarfs, smaller than the Sun and abundant in the Solar neighborhood. Hence, they are crucial targets in the hunt for exoplanets beyond the Solar System and for extraterrestrial life research. Red dwarfs are cooler and emit less visible light, making their study challenging.
Bun'ei Sato, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan) and the lead investigator in this search, remarked: 'It has been 14 years since IRD began development. We have continued to develop and study in hopes of finding a planet similar to Ross 508 b. Our discovery proves that near-infrared RV search could play a vital role in finding low-mass planets around cool M-type dwarfs like Ross 508.'
With such promising initial findings, we can hope that the Subaru Telescope will discover even more, potentially better, candidates for potentially habitable planets near red dwarf stars in the future.
The term 'Super-Earth' refers to planets with masses greater than Earth's but not exceeding the mass of Neptune. Although the term specifically refers to the mass of the planet, astronomers also use it to describe planets larger than Earth but smaller than so-called 'mini-Neptunes' (with radii from two to four times that of Earth).
Source: Scitechdaily, NASA/Exoplanets
