US EditionNewly discovered 'super-Earth' offers prime target in search for alien life
GJ 251 c is nearly four times Earth's mass and orbits within the habitable zone, making it a top candidate for future atmospheric studies to detect signs of life.
- On October 23, an international team including Penn State announced GJ 251 c, a super-Earth nearly four times Earth's mass located less than 20 light-years away in the habitable zone.
- Using over 20 years of archival observations and new data from the Habitable-Zone Planet Finder on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, researchers refined the star's radial-velocity `wobble` to detect the planet.
- Facing stellar activity, researchers used advanced modeling to tease out signals, as Mahadevan said, `This is a hard game in terms of trying to beat down stellar activity as well as measuring its subtle signals, teasing out slight signals from what is essentially this frothing, magnetospheric cauldron of a star surface.`
- The discovery positions the planet as a top target for atmospheric searches, but researchers noted current imaging limits will require next-generation 30-meter-class ground-based telescopes and the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
- Amid debate over red-dwarf habitability, scientists highlight the need for sustained community investment in technology and training, as future observatories like 30-meter-class telescopes are planned, despite red dwarfs' flare risks, with GJ 251 at 36% of the Sun's mass.
17 Articles
17 Articles
Scientists Just Found a Super-Earth Exoplanet Only 18 Light-Years Away
A new exoplanet candidate has just burst onto the scene, and it may be one of the best alien worlds yet on which to search for extraterrestrial life. It's just 18 light-years away: a super-Earth named GJ 251c with a minimum mass about 3.84 times that of our own planet. The most exciting part? It's smack-bang in its star's habitable zone – an orbital distance neither too far from nor too close to the star to support life. "The exoplanet is in the…
In our neighborhood astronomers have tracked down a "super-earth". Gliese 251c is to be tested for traces of life.
Discovered a ?super Earth?, nicknamed so to be four times larger than the mass of our planet. The GJ 251 C made of rock and ...
In our cosmic neighborhood, astronomers have tracked down a "super-earth". With new telescopes, they want to search for traces of life on the planet Gliese 251c.
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