Astronomers Found A Possibly Habitable Exoplanet 31 Light-Years From Our Solar System

On Wednesday, astronomers announced that they had found a potentially habitable planet outside of the solar system.

The newly discovered super-Earth is called GJ 357 d and located 31 light-years from our own solar system. The exoplanet is six times as large as the Earth, and its surface might have liquid water.

So far, all we know is that the planet might be habitable and there has not been any evidence suggesting that there is life on it.

According to Kaltenegger, the co-author of the study on this exoplanet, the finding is a surprise:

From the data gathered by TESS, a spacecraft launched in April 2018, astronomers found out about another planet orbiting the same star, called the GJ 357. After that, they made use of a ground-based telescope to do follow-up research, which revealed the existence of two more planets, including the possibly habitable one, the GJ 357 d.

The two other planets, the GJ 357 b, and GJ 357 c are not suitable for supporting life, as their surfaces are extremely hot. According to Kaltenegger, the temperature on GJ 357 c is around 260 degrees Fahrenheit.

So far, apart from the projection that there might be water on the surface and it takes GJ 357 d 56 days to complete an orbit around its star, we do not know much about this exoplanet. Kaltenegger expected that we might be able to gather more information, especially on whether the surface has ocean or is rocky,  after the launch of James Webb Space Telescope in 2021 and the operation of Extremely Large Telescope.

Since the exoplanet is larger than the Earth, if life exists there, it will be totally different from what we know on our home planet.