The planet Percival is located 310 light-years away from Earth, within the habitable zone of a G-type star.
Researchers from the Flatiron Institute and several independent scientists have identified a planet named TOI-4633 C – also known as Percival – which is entirely within the habitable zone of the parent star TOI-4633 A.
TOI-4633 A is a G-type star situated in a binary star system 310 light-years away from us.
The other star in the system is TOI-4633 B, which is slightly smaller than TOI-4633 A and orbits around this star along with its two accompanying planets in a larger orbit.
The planet Percival lies in the habitable zone of its parent star, with a potential sibling planet and possibly several “moons of life” orbiting around it – (AI Image: Anh Thư).
Returning to TOI-4633 C, according to NASA, it is a giant gas exoplanet with a mass of approximately 0.387 times that of Jupiter, which is equivalent to 123 times the mass of Earth. The radius of this planet is about 3.2 times larger than that of Earth.
TOI-4633 C is located 0.847 AU (astronomical units, equivalent to the distance from the Sun to Earth, about 150 million km) from its parent star and takes 271.9 days to complete one orbit around the star.
NASA’s TESS satellite was the first to discover this planet, but the study led by the Flatiron Institute has unveiled its mysteries, particularly confirming that it is a world suitable for life.
One challenge is that TOI-4633 C resembles Neptune more than Earth, meaning it is a gas planet without a solid surface, with a thick atmosphere of water vapor, hydrogen, and methane.
This may slightly reduce the chances of life existing there. If it does exist, it would likely be a very different form of life compared to that on Earth.
However, many studies suggest that such long-period planets have a high likelihood of possessing numerous moons with solid surfaces where life could take root.
Therefore, even if life does not exist directly on this planet, it could still host many moons with potential for life, similar to those around Jupiter or Saturn in our Solar System.
The other planet in the star system is TOI 4633 B, which is even larger than this habitable world, with a radius up to 13.7 times that of Earth, making it larger than Jupiter (which has a radius 11 times that of Earth).
Scientists say they will have to wait another 30 years for the two stars in the TOI-4633 AB system to be sufficiently far apart, which will help clarify the structure of the star system and enhance our understanding of the intriguing planet Percival.
