uranologist from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands have discovered a new super - Earth about 32 light - geezerhood from the Solar System . The exoplanet is orbiting a bright red dwarf star , GJ 536 , and it ’s approximate to have a mass of 5.4 earth and an orbital period of just under nine day .
The major planet , which is called GJ 536 Bel , is unconvincing to be habitable , but the stargazer are interested in finding likely other public in the system that might be more life - friendly . This discovery was accepted for issue inAstronomy & Astrophysics .
" So far , the only planet we have found is GJ 536 b , but we are continue to supervise the star to see if we can find other fellow , " pronounce lead author Alejandro Suárez Mascareño , in astatement . " Rocky planets are usually find in group , specially around stars of this type , and we are pretty sure that we can line up other low - batch planet in orbits further from the star topology , with periods from 100 days up to a few year . We are prepare a programme of monitor for transportation of this new exoplanet to determine its radius and beggarly tightness . "
The astronomers trust to discover a system of rules like toTrappist 1 , which is a ruddy dwarf with three bouldery planets in the habitable geographical zone around it . GJ 538 b is not in the inhabitable zone , but its likely companion might be . The star also has a similar magnetic bicycle as the Sun , although on a much shorter period – three years instead of 11 . All these characteristics make GJ 538 B complex a very attractive object .
" This bouldered exoplanet is orbiting a headliner much smaller and cool than the Lord’s Day , " said conscientious objector - author Jonay Isaí González . " But it is sufficiently nearby and lustrous . It is also observable from both the northern and southern hemispheres , which is very interesting for future gamey - stability spectrographs , and in especial , for the possible detection of another bouldery satellite in the habitability zone of the star . "
The observations were a conjunctive elbow grease by many different observatories . The major planet was detected using the radial velocity method , which looks at the star ’s wobble to function out if a nearby planet is tugging at it .
" To detect the planet , we had to measure the velocity of the star with an truth of the order of a metre per second , " bestow cobalt - author Rafael Rebolo . " With the construction of the new instrument ESPRESSO , co - directed by the IAC , we will improve this accuracy by a factor of 10 , and will be capable to extend our search to planets with conditions very standardised to Earth , around this and many other nearby stars . "
[ H / T : Phys.org ]
