Earth-sized exoplanet discovered orbiting red dwarf

An international scientific team has discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star located about 55 light-years from Earth.

The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, cited by the Spanish agency EFE and involving researchers from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) in Spain, concluded that more than 70% of the stars in the Milky Way are “M-dwarfs,” commonly known as red dwarfs.

According to research, this type of star is one of the coolest and least bright in the Milky Way.

While stars like the Sun burn for about 10 billion years before becoming red giants, M dwarfs continue to shine for 100 billion years or more, which could mean an even longer time for life to evolve, according to the IAC.

The IAC notes that ultracool dwarf stars are very common in the Milky Way, but they are so fragile that their planetary populations remain largely unexplored.

The research team created Speculoos (Search for Planets Occultivating Ultra-Cool Stars), a dedicated network of professional telescopes that facilitates the study of ultra-cool dwarf stars.

According to astrophysicist from the University of Liege (Belgium) Michael Gillon, quoted by EFE, Speculoos was designed “specifically to explore nearby ultra-cool dwarf stars in search of rocky planets” like the recently discovered one.

According to the expert, it is likely that this exoplanet does not have an atmosphere, since it orbits much closer to its star than the Earth to the Sun, which “increases its surface temperature.”

According to the study, the exoplanet, called SPECULOOS-3, always has one side facing its star, known as the dayside, just like the Moon, which always has one side facing Earth.

One year, or the time it takes a planet to orbit a star, lasts about 17 hours.

SPECULOOS-3 is slightly larger than Jupiter—the solar system’s largest planet—and thousands of degrees cooler than the Sun, with an average temperature of 2,627 degrees Celsius.

However, the planet receives almost 16 times more energy per second than Earth receives from the Sun, raising its surface temperature.

IAC researcher Rui Alonso also explains that “great progress is being made in the study of planets orbiting other stars.”

“We have reached the stage where we can detect and study in detail Earth-sized exoplanets (…) and determine whether any of them are habitable,” he concludes.