Discovered a ‘super-Earth’ planet that can support life

New research by astronomer Hiroki Harakawa from the operating group of the Subaru Telescope (located in Hawaii – USA), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) reveals a planet named Ross 508b large. 4 times the size of Earth and is a promising planet for life.

The planet Ross 508b orbits a “red dwarf star” 36.5 light-years away. The duration of a complete orbit around the system’s star is only 10.75 days, in contrast to Earth’s annual cycle, which lasts nearly 365 days.

This planet is located right next to the outer edge of the “habitable zone”. The ‘Goldilocks’ of a star are regions where the temperature and radiation conditions are right for liquid water and life to arise. But this region is also relative.

The study was published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan said the planet Ross 508b, orbiting the star at a distance that provides temperatures conducive to water formation on the planet’s surface. This suggests that Ross 508b is in the habitable zone.

What struck the scientists was that Ross 508b, despite having completely different conditions from Earth, appeared to be more rocky and less gaseous in general. In other words, it is very similar to Earth.

Despite the fact that the region in which the ‘super-Earth’ planet is located is neither too hot nor too cold, quite favorable for life. But it’s not just being in the habitable zone that there will be life. Because we can see Mars is in the habitable zone of the Sun but still cannot sustain life.

Ross 508b has 18 percent that of the Sun, making it the faintest and smallest star in the world’s orbit that has been detected using radial velocity. The radial velocity method or the oscillation or Doppler method is one of the techniques used to find exoplanets.