A team of astronomers from the United States and Japan has discovered a new Earth-like planet orbiting a cool red dwarf star.
The research was conducted by scientists from several leading institutes, universities, and research centers in Japan and the U.S., including the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, NASA, and more.
Dubbed K2-415b, this new world is located 72 light-years away and was first discovered in 2017 by the Kepler Space Telescope. However, its special characteristics have only recently been unveiled.
Graphic depicting an “Earth-like world” – (Image: NASA)
According to Sputnik, scientists analyzed high-resolution images and near-infrared spectra of K2-415b and concluded that it is likely a rocky planet similar to Earth.
This planet has a mass ranging from 1.3 to 5.7 times that of Earth, with the highest possibility being three times the mass of Earth. It is one of the smallest exoplanets ever discovered around stars located tens of light-years away from us.
Its size allows it to fall within the range of Earth-like planets and places it on the list of worlds that warrant attention in the search for extraterrestrial life.
K2-415b orbits quite closely to its host star, which is a type M dwarf, or red dwarf. This type of star is the coldest, smallest, and most numerous in the Milky Way galaxy, which includes Earth. The host star, K2-415, has only 16% the mass of our Sun.
“Small planets around M dwarf stars are a good laboratory for exploring the diversity of atmospheres of rocky planets and the conditions under which a rocky planet could exist,” the scientists stated.
To further investigate the planet and its potential for habitability, scientists will need to study its atmosphere, a task expected to be accomplished using the current most powerful space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, operated by NASA/ESA/CSA (the space agencies of the United States, Europe, and Canada).
The research has recently been published online on ArXiv and is awaiting peer review for official publication in the scientific journal The Astronomical Journal.
