Using data from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Keck I and Keck II telescopes in Hawaii, an international team of scientists has discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star system . It is called GJ 667Cc , its mass is 4.5 times greater than that of our planet, and it makes one revolution every 28 Earth days in an orbit located in the habitable zone , that is, with temperatures neither too cold nor too hot for it to exist. liquid water , which allows life.
The researchers, who publish their work in the Astrophysical Journal Letters , point out that the planet revolves around a triple star system located 22 light years away, with a different composition than our Sun. It has elements heavier than helium, like iron, carbon and silicon but in less quantity, he points out. The main star, GJ 667C , is an M-class red dwarf. The other two could be classified as K-type orange dwarfs. This discovery indicates that habitable planets can be found in a greater variety of environments than previously thought. authors.
Around GJ 667C a super-earth had already been observed ( GJ 667Cb ) with a period of 7.2 days, although the finding was never published because it was too close to the stars.
