Newly Discovered Exoplanets Are Closer To Earth And Possible Habitable

Considering the humungous size of the universe, Teegarden's star, a faint red-dwarf is somewhat closer. Now, astronomers have discovered two intriguing planets in the star's habitable zone where they could possibly have liquid water.

A team of researchers from the University of Gottingen in Germany announced the discovery of an exoplanet. Teegarden's star is located around 12.5 light-years away from the Earth, however, it's very different from our Sun. It's cooled and dimmer and wasn't discovered until 2003.

"The two planets resemble the inner planets of our solar system," said Mathias Zechmeister, lead author of a study. Both exoplanets are heavier than our planet and might be part of a bigger system that has more planets.

Before you get optimistic, it's imperative to note that Earth-like planet doesn't guarantee life-hosting capabilities. The discovery happened as a part of the Carmenes project, which aims to find exoplanets around small, cool stars. The project has already discovered nine other exoplanets.

Previously, Astronomers found a new exoplanet with its own atmosphere in the Neptunian Desert. Dubbed NGTS-4b, the exoplanet is also known as 'The Forbidden Planet' and is smaller in size compared to Neptune but thrice the size of the Earth, said researchers led by the University of Warnick in the UK.

The exoplanet is said to have a mass 20 times the mass of the Earth, a radius 20 percent smaller than Neptune, and temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius. It orbit time around its host star is only 1.3 days. The Earth's takes one year to orbit around the Sun.

Astronomers also located 18 new planets outside our solar system. These planets are similar to Earth in size and conditions. One of these planets is also said to be the smallest known exoplanet and is potentially habitable.

According to a study conducted by researchers at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), the Georg August University of Göttingen, and the Sonneberg Observatory, these exoplanets were overlooked due to their small size, reports SciTech.