Scientists have found a potentially habitable planet 100 light years away from Earth, with a life expectancy of 3,158 years on average. An international team of scientists led by astrophysicist Laetitia Delrez discovered two planets around the star TOI-4306. TOI-4306 is around half the size of our sun and 6.5 times smaller.
The first planet is known as LP 890-9b, also known as TOI-4306b. It is roughly 30% larger than Earth and completes an orbit around its star every 2.7 days.
The current global average life expectancy is 73.5 years. This would imply that the average life expectancy on TOI-4306b, which has a significantly shorter year due to its extremely short orbit, is 9,943. This planet was discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TESS is a satellite project aimed at the discovery of exoplanets circling neighbouring stars. Exoplanets are planets that exist outside of our solar system.
The SPECULOOS telescopes are also outfitted with highly sensitive infrared cameras, allowing them to observe these types of stars with great precision. As a result, they were able to locate another planet known as LP 890-9c or SPECULOOS-2c.
Furthermore, because TOI-4306 is such a cold star, LP 890-9c may be habitable despite being closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun.
“This is because the star LP 890-9 is about 6.5 times smaller than the sun and has a surface temperature half that of our star. This explains why LP 890-9c, despite being much closer to its star than the Earth is to the sun, could still have conditions that are suitable for life.”
This also means that these planets are ideal prospects for scientists to investigate to see whether there are any indications of life in their atmospheres. LP 890-9c is currently the second best candidate for research by the James Webb Space Telescope.
“This is because the star LP 890-9 is about 6.5 times smaller than the sun and has a surface temperature half that of our star. This explains why LP 890-9c, despite being much closer to its star than the Earth is to the sun, could still have conditions that are suitable for life.”
This also means that these planets are ideal prospects for scientists to investigate to see whether there are any indications of life in their atmospheres. LP 890-9c is currently the second best candidate for research by the James Webb Space Telescope.