Scientists find Earth-sized planet. It's orbiting a fascinating star. (2024)

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Scientists find Earth-sized planet. It's orbiting a fascinating star.? ›

SPECULOOS-3b: The Earth-sized exoplanet

May 23, 2024

At 40 light-years away, Gliese 12 b (or Gl 12 b) is described as the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-sized world located to date. This discovery appears in two papers: Kuzuhara et al. 2024 and Dholakia et al. 2024; also, check out NASA's media release about the system, including some visualizations.

The study, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on Thursday, named the new planet Gliese 12 b. Scientists said in the study that the planet is “the nearest, transiting temperate, Earth-sized planet found to date.”

Gliese 12 b is tantalizingly close and moderately warm, situated just 40 light-years away around a red dwarf star. Scientists using a NASA space telescope have discovered a tantalizing world. It's about the size of Earth, sits remarkably close to our solar system, and could be comfortable for life as we know it.

TOI-715 b is a super-Earth exoplanet in the habitable zone of its parent M-type star, TOI-715. The planet is 1.55 times larger than Earth, and is located at 0.083 astronomical units (12,400,000 km) from its star. The planet orbits on the habitable zone of its star and has an equilibrium temperature of 234 K (−39 °C).

The planet Neptune was mathematically predicted before it was directly observed.

Planet Earth III is a 2023 British nature documentary series co-produced by BBC Studios, BBC America, ZDF, FTV and the Open University and the third instalment in the Planet Earth series. It follows Planet Earth (2006) and Planet Earth II (2016). The series is presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Overview. Caltech researchers have found mathematical evidence suggesting there may be a "Planet X" deep in the solar system. This hypothetical Neptune-sized planet orbits our Sun in a highly elongated orbit far beyond Pluto.

History of Planet Nine

Planet Nine, also referred to as Planet 9 or Planet X, was theorized by Batygin and Mike Brown in 2015, according to NASA. The prediction would explain the unique orbits of several smaller celestial objects that were discovered in the Kuiper Belt.

A new "super-Earth" has been discovered in a nearby solar system's habitable zone, according to NASA. The planet, designated as TOI-715 b, is "about one and a half times as wide as Earth" and in a system that is only a measly 137 light-years from Earth.

What is the new planet with water? ›

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have detected water molecules in the atmosphere of a small, blazing-hot exoplanet 97 light-years from Earth. The planet, named GJ 9827d, is about twice Earth's diameter, and it's the smallest exoplanet found to have water vapor in its atmosphere, according to a new study.

Though many of these exoplanets are similar to our own, no evidence has yet been found of life beyond Earth, NASA says. In the case of the newly-discovered super Earth, astronomers believe several other factors, including a suitable atmosphere, would need to be present for water to exist on its surface.

May 14, 2024 — Astronomers have just discovered WASP-193b, an extraordinarily low-density giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like ... May 9, 2024 — A recent study has discovered a novel method for detecting the first-generations stars, known as Population III (Pop III) stars, which have never been directly detected.

The announcement does not mean there is a new planet in our solar system. The existence of this distant world is only theoretical at this point and no direct observation of the object nicknamed "Planet 9" have been made.

Called the parade of planets 2024, six planets i.e. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were to link up before dawn on June 3. Earlier, NASA had said that this planetary parade won't offer much of a view.

At only "40 light-years away," Gliese 12b has been described as one of the "the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size world located to date," with a radius just "1.0 times" that of Earth, making it "one of the smallest exoplanets discovered."