NASA Discovers A Super-Earth Ripe For Exploration And It Just Might Be Habitable
Scientists and astronomers have been in search for another habitable planet for many years. The hope that if Earth ever becomes uninhabitable, humans will have a safe harbor to escape to, has driven the search. While NASA and other space agencies, like SpaceX, are currently working toward trying to inhabit Mars one day, the search for a planet with an ecosystem similar to Earth is still the ideal solution. This makes planets like TOI-715 b, which orbits within the “conservative” habitable zone around its parent star, a prime candidate for further research.
According to NASA, in order for an exoplanet to be considered within the habitable zone, it must be at a distance from the star that could give the planet the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface. This would also include the fact that several other factors would have to be present for surface water to even be present, and to have an atmosphere. The “conservative” habitable zone is a more narrow definition, placing it in what is considered a prime position, at least by current theories.
TOI-715 b, and its smaller companion exoplanet, orbit a red dwarf star. Red dwarfs are smaller and cooler than the Sun that Earth orbits. This means that planets can “crowd closer” and still be within what is considered the habitable zone. It also means that the orbits are shorter, which allows for more opportunities to observe them with technology such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Planet TOI-715 b now joins a growing list of exoplanets that are considered to possibly be in the habitable zone of the star they orbit. NASA will continue to observe the planet and try to seek out its other properties, which include how large it is, and whether or not it is a “water world.”
