BREAKING 🚨: NASA has discovered a second nearby Earth-size planet orbiting within the habitable zone of its star 100 light-years away pic.twitter.com/vLJELqyoIM
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NASA announces the discovery of an Earth-like planet in a habitable zone
NASA announced the discovery of a new planet that could be suitable for human habitation on its surface, as its size is about 95% of the size of Earth, and it may have a rocky nature like it.
The new planet, named TOI 700 e, is located about 100 light-years away from Earth and orbits the small dwarf star M TOI 700, which increases the possibility of water on its surface, and thus the possibility of it being suitable for human life.
The discovery of this planet was announced during the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, last Tuesday.
And NASA indicated that there is another planet in the solar system, which was discovered in 2020 and named TOI 700 d, which is also the same size as Earth. All of these exoplanets are in the habitable zone relative to their stars, or at an appropriate distance from the star, for which liquid water is likely to exist on their surfaces.
She explained that these two planets are only suitable for human life, and she explained that these two planets are only suitable for human life. The space telescope responsible for surveying the outer planets, known as TESS, discovered several planets in the past, but they are not suitable for human life on them, and they were not close in shape and size. From planet Earth, but these two planets may not be the last.
And the new planet is the fourth to be discovered around this star in an area that could be “habitable”, that is, the area located at a distance that makes it possible for liquid water to exist on the surfaces of the planets, according .
Scientists previously discovered three planets around this star called TOI 700 b, c and d, all of which are in the region that may be habitable for life. All of the planets were discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite of NASA's TESS mission, according to CNN .
The possibility of liquid water suggests that planets could be, or may have once been, habitable. Emily Gilrett, a researcher at NASA, said; The planet is one of the few solar systems we know about, with multiple minor planets and habitable zones.
She added: “This makes the TOI 700 system an exciting possibility for additional follow-up. Planet e is about 10% smaller than Planet d, so the system also shows how additional observations made by the TESS mission help us find smaller and smaller worlds.”
Small, cool M dwarf stars like TOI 700 are common in the universe, and many of them have been shown to host exoplanets in recent years, such as the TRAPPIST-1 system and its seven exoplanets to be observed by the James Webb Space Telescope.