Scientists have found a new potentially habitable planet: interesting facts about it

Astronomers have announced the discovery of a new exoplanet, HD 137010 b, orbiting a Sun-like star about 146 light-years from Earth. It is 6% larger than our planet, and its year lasts about 355 days, according to The Guardian.

The planet was discovered by an international team of researchers from Australia, the UK, the US, and Denmark using NASA’s Kepler space telescope during the K2 mission back in 2017. The researchers estimate that its characteristics could be about 50% similar to Earth’s.

Dr. Chelsea Huang from the University of Southern Queensland said that HD 137010 b is a very promising candidate for the search for life among planets orbiting stars similar to our Sun. Previously, the most popular planet in this context was Kepler-186f, which is much farther away and was discovered later.

The discovery of the planet was made possible by the transit method, when a celestial body passes in front of its star, causing a slight decrease in brightness. It was this signal that attracted the attention of researchers led by Dr. Alexander Wenner, who became interested in astronomy while still in school.

“It seemed like a sign that we should return to this data and finally make such an important discovery,” said Wenner. The team of scientists repeatedly checked and analyzed the data before confirming that the recorded effect corresponds to the classic transit method.

Due to its relative proximity and high brightness, HD 137010 b can be a convenient target for modern telescopes, and astronomers plan to use it to test new observational technologies.

The star around which the planet orbits is cooler and dimmer than our Sun, so the likely surface temperature of HD 137010 b could be similar to that of Mars, falling below -70°C. Dr. Sarah Webb from Swinburne University stressed that further observations were needed to definitively confirm its exoplanet status, as only one transit had been detected so far. It is not ruled out that the planet could be a so-called “supersnowball” – a large icy world with the potential for water to be frozen.