Potentially habitable exoplanet found in red dwarf system

Super-Earth LP 890-9, discovered by astronomers, was named the second candidate among the most promising exoplanets in terms of probability of life. The planet is 114 light years from Earth.

The new object is located in the habitable zone of a quiet red dwarf. That is, this planet revolves around its star in conditions of acceptable temperatures.

There is a significant possibility of water in liquid form and therefore of life. The researchers published their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The object was found by the transit method, that is, by the luminous fluctuations in the radiation of the native star in the moments of the passage of LP 890-9 between its luminary and us.

An international team of scientists has identified two potentially life-bearing planets in the ultracool dwarf LP 890-9 (TOI-4306). The second was considered the most promising, the one that is a little further from the star, with a circulation period of 8.5 Earth days.

Although both exoplanets are much closer to their parent star than our Mercury is to the Sun, they do not experience excess heat. Since the temperature of the red dwarf itself is less than 2,900 kelvin, that is, half the temperature of the Sun. And in size it is six and a half times smaller than our native star.

Keep in mind that astronomers still consider the Trappist-1 system (39 light years from us) the most encouraging. There, around an ultracool dwarf, they immediately found seven very promising planets with large volumes of water and acceptable atmospheric indicators.

Detected objects are convenient for observation, which can be carried out by the James Webb telescope.