Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth orbiting a small, cool star which could potentially host liquid water on its surface.
Even though we’ve discovered over 5,000 exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system, most of these aren’t very Earth-like. They’re often much bigger than Earth, being more like gas giants Saturn and Jupiter than small and rocky, and relatively few are located in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist on their surface. That’s why it’s exciting when a planet comparable to Earth is discovered in its habitable zone — as one such recently discovered planet is.
While the researchers were looking at this planet, they also discovered another planet in the same system. This second planet, named LP 890-9c or SPECULOOS-2c, is around 40% larger than Earth and orbits further out from the star with an orbital period of 8.5 days. Because the star is much smaller and cooler than our sun, that places this second planet within the habitable zone.
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