Super-Earth: There are two around a cold star

Two new ones have been discovered Super Terretwo planets bigger than Earth but smaller than an icy giant planet, orbiting one cold star not far from ours Solar system. The star, called HD 260655, is located about 100 light-years from our planet.

The discovery, by an international group of researchers led by Laetitia Delrez from the University of Liège, with the support of the project’s network of telescopes spiced Bisquit (Searching for habitable planets that eclipse ultra-cool stars), was published in the magazine Astronomy and Astrophysics.

According to what has been discovered, one of the two planets is in the habitable zone of the systemmaking it one of the most important objects of study, immediately after the planets orbiting the star Trappist-1.

The planet LP 890-9bpreviously also identified by the telescope tess of the NASA and now confirmed by Speculoos, it is closest to the star. This is 30% larger than Earth and takes 2.7 days to orbit its own star.

The second super-Earth, called LP 890-9c, it was a surprise instead. The planet is 40% larger than Earth and orbits the star in 8.5 days. This particularity places it in the habitable areathat is the region in which the planet has conditions similar to those of our planet.