Earth-like exoplanet discovered 37 light-years away by scientists: study

Astronomers with the Subaru Strategic Program have discovered a possible super-Earth at a distance of 37 light-years from Earth. The discovery was made with the IRD infrared spectrograph on the Subaru Telescope (IRD-SSP) in Hawaii. NASA exoplanets tweeted Thursday morning that a super-Earth has been discovered in their red dwarf star’s habitable zone.

About four times the mass of our planet, the exoplanet has challenged us with a problem – “it slides in and out of its star’s habitable zone.” Named Ross 508b, the planet is showing continuous movement in and out of its habitable zone, but still has the ability to hold water on its surface, and as the James Webb Space Telescope comes into operation, this could be a crucial find .

The distance from a star at which liquid water could exist on the surfaces of orbiting planets is called the habitable zone. Habitable zones, also called “Goldilocks zones,” can have ideal environmental conditions for life to thrive, being neither too hot nor too cold.

Ross 508b passes through this zone on its orbit around the star.

The exoplanet revolves around a star one-fifth the mass of the Sun. Located on the inner edge of its habitable zone, the average distance from its central star is 0.05 times the Earth-Sun distance.

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Ross 508 b is the result of a renewed emphasis on red dwarf stars, which make up three quarters of the stars in our galaxy and are abundant near the solar system.

“Ross 508 b is the first successful detection of a super-Earth using only near-infrared spectroscopy. Previously, near-infrared observations alone were not accurate enough in detecting low-mass planets such as super-Earths, and verification by high-precision line-of-sight velocity measurements in visible light was required. This study shows that IRD-SSP alone is capable of detecting planets , and clearly demonstrates the advantage of IRD-SSP in its ability to search with high fidelity even for late-type red dwarfs that are too faint to be observed with visible light,” says Dr. Hiroki Harakawa (NAOJ Subaru Telescope ), the lead author of the discovery paper.

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Their limited luminosity helps extend the lifespan of such dwarf stars, but they are considered crucial targets for studying life in the Universe. These stars have a surface temperature below 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Currently, Proxima Centauri b is the only other exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Sun.

According to researchers, the planet likely has an elliptical orbit. Its orbital period, or orbital period, is only 10.8 days, according to the NASA Exoplanet tweet.

“While current telescopes cannot image the planet directly due to its proximity to the central star, it will be one of the future life-searching targets through 30-meter-class telescopes,” the team said.

“It has been 14 years since the development of the IRD began. We continued our development and research in hopes of finding a planet just like Ross 508 b. We are striving to make new discoveries,” said Professor Bun’ei Sato, IRD-SSP’s Director Investigator.