2023-05-02 17:20:15
Using the Tess Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered two new near-Earth super-Earths orbiting a red dwarf star. They lie at the inner limit of the habitable zone, making them ideal candidates for James-Webb’s search for atmosphere.
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Launched for more than five years now in search of exoplanets, the Tess space telescope continues to provide valuable data on the worlds around us. With 330 confirmed new planets already under her belt and thousands of candidates, Tess continues to search for rocky planets with a mass close to that of Earth, called super-Earths. And two new ones of this kind have just been added to his list, described in a study published on ArXiv.
Located 42 parsecs from Earth, or regarding 137 light-years away, the two worlds orbit an M-type red dwarf star, named TOI-2095, TOI meaning Tess objectifs of Interest. Nicknamed following their stars TOI-2095b and TOI-2095c, they both have a radius close to that of Earth and a respective mass of 4.1 Earth masses and 7.4 Earth masses. Estimates still to be adjusted, explain the researchers, because of the lack of data.
Good candidates for atmospheric characterization
But what interests researchers is above all their position in relation to the star TOI-2095. Indeed, the study explains that they are located in the inner edge of the habitable zone, ie the distance from the star that would allow the presence of liquid water! Either potentially life… but with many uncertainties, because everything depends on the atmosphere of these planets. They might indeed have one similar to Venus, making them worlds unsuitable for sheltering life, or on the contrary having seen their atmosphere destroyed by the radiation of TOI-2095.
But this eventuality makes them serious candidates for future explorations by James-Webb: they are close enough to the Earth and have characteristics making the presence of liquid water possible! “In particular, extremely accurate radial velocity tracking observations may help improve mass measurements (and therefore apparent densities) of planets and provide some constraints for future prospects of atmospheric characterization”the researchers wrote.
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