NASA scientists discovered a planet similar to the Earth: it can have life

The TESS space telescope discovered the first planet the size of the Earth in the habitable zone, reports "Present" with reference to the NASA space agency.

Photo: video frame YouTube / NASA Goddard

The habitable zone is a conditional region in space, which is determined from the calculation that the conditions on the surface of the planets located in this zone will be close to the conditions on Earth and there will be water.

The planet TOI 700 d is located at a distance of just over 100 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Dorado. It is about 20% larger than our planet and revolves around a red dwarf - a small, relatively cold star - in 37 days.

An exoplanet (that is, a planet outside the solar system) receives 86% of the energy that the sun gives the earth from the star. It is noted that for 11 months of observations no outbreaks were detected on the star, this increases the planet's chances of being inhabited.

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In total, TESS discovered three planets in the orbit of the indicated star - TOI 700 b, c and d. Of these, only d is in the so-called habitable zone. This means that it is not too far or too close to the star, where the temperature may allow the presence of liquid water.

“The innermost planet, called TOI 700b, is almost the same size as Earth, is likely rocky, and enters orbit every 10 days. The average planet, TOI 700 s, is 2,6 times the size of Earth—between the sizes of Earth and Neptune—orbits every 16 days and is likely a gas-dominated celestial object. TOI 700 d, the most famous planet in the system and the only one in the habitable zone, is 20% larger than Earth, orbits every 37 days and receives 86% of the energy from its star that the Sun provides to Earth,” NASA said, quoting Delo.ua.

A team of scientists led by astronomer Joseph Rodriguez at the Harvard & Smithsonian Astrophysics Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, requested follow-up observations to confirm the TOI 700 d.

“Given the impact of this discovery—that this is the first Earth-sized planet in TESS's habitable zone—we really wanted to make sure our understanding of this system was as specific as possible. TOI 700 d orbited exactly when we expected it to. This is a great addition to our mission, which helped find two TRAPPIST-1 planets and identify five more,” said Rodriguez.

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The TESS space telescope is called a “planet hunter.” It was developed “specifically to search for Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby stars,” said Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division in Washington.

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