Super-Earth discovery reveals an exoplanet potentially capable of sustaining lifeby University of Geneva
This promising planet is a super-Earth, a telluric planet larger than the Earth. It is part of a planetary system containing two other planets. It orbits a G-type star, like the sun, at a distance of just 19.7 light-years, which is, on the scale of the universe, in the very close neighborhood of the Earth.
This "closeness" makes it easier to study, as its light signals are more visible and stronger. "HD 20794, around which HD 20794 d orbits, is not an ordinary star," explains Xavier Dumusque, Senior Lecturer and researcher in the Department of Astronomy at the UNIGE and co-author of the study.
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