Using the TES space telescope, astronomers have discovered two new near-Earth super-Earths orbiting a red dwarf star. They are at the inner limit of the habitable zone, making them ideal candidates for James-Webb’s search for an atmosphere.
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Launched for more than five years in search of exoplanets, the DES Space Telescope continues to provide valuable information about the worlds around us. With 330 confirmed new planets already under his belt and thousands of candidates, Tess continues to search for rocky planets near Earth, known as super-Earths. And two new ones of this kind have been added to his list, described in a published study ArXiv.
Located 42 parsecs or about 137 light-years from Earth, the two worlds orbit an M-type red dwarf star named TOI-2095, TOI. tes motives of interest. Their stars, nicknamed TOI-2095b and TOI-2095c, are both Earth radii and 4.1 Earth masses and 7.4 Earth masses, respectively. Estimates still need to be adjusted, the researchers explain, due to a lack of data.
Good candidates for atmospheric characterization
But their position relative to the star TOI-2095 is of most interest to researchers. In fact, the study explains that they are located at the inner edge of the habitable zone, the distance from the star that would allow liquid water to exist! One is possible life… but with many uncertainties because everything depends on the atmospheres of these planets. They may actually have something similar to Venus, making the worlds uninhabitable, or rather seeing their atmospheres destroyed by TOI-2095’s radiation.
But this phenomenon makes them strong candidates for James-Webb’s future studies: they are close enough to Earth and have properties that make the existence of liquid water possible! “In particular, highly accurate radial velocity observations can help improve planetary mass measurements (and hence apparent densities) and provide some constraints on future prospects for atmospheric characterization.”The researchers wrote.
