NASA Has Identified Two Earth-Like Planets That May Harbour life

Sep, 2022 - By WMR

Two new Earth-like planets that are 1,200 light-years distant from the Sun and may harbour life have been found by NASA.

The SPECULOOS telescope's best targets for subsequent investigation will be LP 890-9c and the TRAPPIST-1 planets, according to Triaud, who participated in the discovery of both systems.

The report's principal author is Laetitia Delrez, a researcher from the University of Liège who contributed to the findings. TESS searches for exoplanets using the transit technique. In order to detect any little dimmings that planets transiting in front of their stars could produce, it is required to simultaneously monitor the brightness of thousands of stars. Delrez stated that "a follow-up with ground-based telescopes" can aid in understanding what TESS missed since TESS has a limited sensitivity to light in the near-infrared spectrum, which is released by colder stars like LP 890-9.

Researchers went into further depth about the two planets of LP-890-potential. 9's Its closest satellite, LP 890-9b, orbits the Earth in 2.7 days, which is a little too quickly for life to exist, according to scientists. LP 890-9b is about 30% larger than Earth.

It's crucial to find as many temperate terrestrial worlds as possible in order to research the variety of planetary climates and, eventually, to be able to gauge how often biology has evolved on the universe's other planets.

TESS uses the transit method to look for exoplanets. The brightness of thousands of stars must be simultaneously monitored in order to pick up any slight dimmings caused by planets passing in front of their stars. In order to study the range of planetary climates and, ultimately, to be able to determine how often biology has evolved on the other planets in the cosmos, it is imperative to identify as many temperate terrestrial worlds as is physically possible. More information was uncovered regarding the two LP-890-potential planets.