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New Super-Earth may be able to support life!

November 08, 2012 15:24 IST



By avoiding fake signals caused by stellar activity, the researchers have identified three new super-Earth planet candidates also in orbit, reported.

"We pioneered new data analysis techniques including the use of the wavelength as a filter to reduce the influence of activity on the signal from this star," said Mikko Tuomi from the University of Hertfordshire.


Of the new planets, the one of greatest interest is the one with the outermost orbit from the star -- with a mass at least seven times of the Earth.

Its orbit around the host star is at a similar distance to Earth's orbit around our Sun, so it receives a similar amount of energy from the star as the Earth receives from the Sun -- increasing the probability of it being habitable.


"The star HD 40307, is a perfectly quiet old dwarf star, so there is no reason why such a planet could not sustain an Earth-like climate," said Guillem Anglada-Escude of the University of Goettingen.


Earlier this year, the Kepler spacecraft found a planet with a similar orbit. However, Kepler 22d is located 600 light years from Earth, whereas this new super-Earth planet -- known as HD 40307g -- is only forty-two light years from Earth.
