Following the discovery of the seven ‘earths’ around the red dwarf TRAPPIST-1 and the exoplanet Proxima b around our nearest star, an international team of astronomers has discovered what might be the best candidate to search for signs of life outside Of the solar system. The exoplanet in question is LHS 1140b, a super-earth about 40 light-years distant from Earth in the constellation Cetus (the whale).
The planet, which orbits a red dwarf star, has a diameter of about 18,000 kilometers, about 1.4 times larger than Earth’s and a mass 7 times larger , so it is likely to be a rocky planet with a dense iron core inside.
Another good news is that this super-earth is located in the habitable zone around its red dwarf star (one of the most common in the galaxy), so it has the potential (essential liquid water and atmosphere) to host life alien. Its orbit is 25 days.
” It is the most interesting exoplanet that I have seen in the last decade. It is the perfect objective to carry out one of the greatest missions of science: to look for evidence of life beyond Earth”, explains Jason Dittmann, co-author of the work .
The scientists emphasize that this super-earth may be the ideal planet for future observations to study and characterize, if it has one, its atmosphere. “For future characterization of planets in the habitable zone, the LHS 1140 system could be an even further target. important that Proxima bo TRAPPIST-1 . This has been an extraordinary year for the discovery of exoplanets! “, exclaim with satisfaction Xavier Delfosse and Xavier Bonfils, co-authors of the work.
The location of LHS 1140b was achieved thanks to the MEarth-South telescope array installation, located at the Cerro Tololo observatory (Chile), where the first signs of light changes were detected. After this, the HARPS instrument ( High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in La Silla (Chile), confirmed the presence of the super-earth and helped both to establish the orbital period and to deduce the mass and density. of the exoplanet.
Experts think that this super-earth was formed in its current location, at least 5 billion years ago.
The study has been published in the journal Nature.
