Astronomers have discovered a new super-Earth planet around a nearby star that may have an Earth-like climate and be just right to support life.
The new planet exists in the habitable zone of a nearby star and is part of a six-planet system. The system was previously thought to contain three planets in orbits too close to the star to support liquid water.
By avoiding fake signals caused by stellar activity, the researchers have identified three new super-Earth planet candidates also in orbit, Astrobiology.com 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.
"This significantly increased our sensitivity and enabled us to reveal three new super-Earth planets around the star known as HD 40307, making it into a six-planet system," Tuomi said.
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.
This is where the presence of liquid water and stable atmospheres to support life is possible and, more importantly, the planet is likely to be rotating on its own axis as it orbits around the star creating a daytime and night-time effect on the planet which would be better at creating an Earth-like environment.
"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.
"The longer orbit of the new planet means that its climate and atmosphere may be just right to support life. Just as Goldilocks liked her porridge to be neither too hot nor too cold but just right, this planet or indeed any moons that it has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable," added Hugh Jones from University of Hertfordshire.
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.
