Key Points
In an exciting development for the search for life beyond our solar system, two international teams of astronomers have discovered an exoplanet between the sizes of Earth and Venus, located a relatively close 40 light-years away.. Named Gliese 12b, the planet orbits a cool red dwarf star and exhibits several promising factors that make it an ideal candidate for further study using powerful telescopes like NASA's James Webb Space Telescope...
The discovery was made using observations from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which detects planets by tracking the regular dimming of stars caused by orbiting worlds passing in front of them...
The exoplanet's Earth-like size and temperature make it "one of the best targets to study whether Earth-sized planets orbiting cool stars can retain their atmospheres," according to Shishir Dholakia of the University of Southern Queensland, who co-led the other team...
Studying Gliese 12b's atmosphere may also shed light on why Earth remained habitable while Venus experienced a runaway greenhouse effect.. "Because Gliese 12b is between Earth and Venus in temperature, its atmosphere could teach us a lot about the habitability pathways planets take as they develop," explained Larissa Palethorpe of the University of Edinburgh and University College London...
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