Discovery of Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone
Oct
23
Astronomers discovered an exoplanet located in its star’s habitable zone
One more step toward finding places that might host life beyond Earth.
Advances our knowledge of planetary systems and how they compare to ours.
For students: Inspires wonder about other worlds and possibilities of life outside Earth.
University of California, Irvine astronomers have identified an exoplanet located in a star’s habitable zone, where surface conditions might exist that can support the presence of liquid water – an essential ingredient for all known life. The exoplanet, which exists in a region of the Milky Way Galaxy that is relatively close to our solar system, may have a rocky composition like Earth and is several times more massive, making it a “super-Earth.”
The exoplanet is called GJ 251 c, and it orbits an M-dwarf star, the oldest and most common type of star in our home Milky Way galaxy. M-dwarfs exhibit high levels of stellar activity, such as starspots (cool, dark regions on the star’s surface) and flares (sudden bursts of outward energy away from the star). Such stellar activity may mimic subtle RV signatures, resulting in a misleading exoplanet detection.