Only 37 light-years from Earth, a super-Earth planet has been discovered close to a red dwarf star's habitable zone.
This is the first finding made by a brand-new device on the Subaru Telescope, and it presents an opportunity to look into the likelihood of life existing on planets orbiting nearby stars.
People can anticipate that the Subaru Telescope might find additional, perhaps even greater, candidates for inhabited planets around red dwarfs after such a successful first finding.
The most prevalent and smallest type of hydrogen-burning star in the universe is the red dwarf star, also known as the M dwarf or M-type star.
Red dwarf
(Photo : Planet Volumes/Unsplash)
The Sun's mass ranges from about 0.08 to 0.6 times those of red dwarf stars.
Lighter stars are much more common than heavier stars, making red dwarfs the most common type of star (items relatively small than red dwarf stars are termed brown dwarfs and cannot shine through the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen), as per Britannica.
Red dwarf stars make up approximately three-fourths of the stars inside the Milky Way Galaxy. Elliptical galaxies have a higher proportion than other types.
Based on their surface temperature, stars that burn hydrogen across thermonuclear fusion are divided into seven spectral types.
These stars are also located on the main sequence line of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which charts the luminosities of stars in relation to their temperatures.
The coolest main-sequence stars are red dwarfs, which have M spectral types and surface temperatures of roughly 2,000-3,500 K.
The spectral lines of molecules like titanium oxide, which are disengaged in hotter stars, are really quite predominant since these stars are so cool.
With luminosities between around 0.0001 and 0.1 times of the Sun, red dwarfs are also the faintest stars.
A red dwarf's habitable zone-the area around a star in which liquid water might be discovered on a planet's surface-is quite close to the star due to its low luminosity.
Every few weeks, a planet in that area will have completed orbit around red dwarf, frequently transiting the red dwarf. A red dwarf's small radius means more of the star would've been encircled by the transiting planet, making them quite noticeable.
The planet Proxima Centauri b was found in 2016 orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Sun.
Also Read: Proxima Centauri Might be More Similar to Our Sun Than Previously Thought
The habitable zone of Red dwarf
Three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy are red dwarfs, which are smaller than the Sun and abound in the solar neighborhood, as per ScienceDaily.
They are crucial targets in the hunt for nearby extrasolar planets and extraterrestrial life because of this.
Red dwarfs are cooler than other kinds of stars and emit less visible light, which makes it challenging to study them.
Moreover, red dwarfs are more visible at infrared wavelengths.
To look for evidence of planets around red dwarf stars, the Astrobiology Center in Japan created an infrared observational instrument placed on the Subaru Telescope.
The observational technique used in this investigation is called IRD, or Infrared Doppler.
According to the preliminary findings of this investigation, a super-Earth of four times this same mass as our planet orbits Ross 508, a star located 37 light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens.
Ross 508 is a planet that orbits its host star at the inner edge of the habitable zone and has a year that is only 11 Earth days long.
It's interesting to note that there are signs the orbit is elliptical, which would mean that for a portion of the orbit the planet could be in the habitable zone, the area where conditions are favorable for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface.
If water and life exist, more investigation is required.
Related article: 'Habitable' Planet Previously Ignored by Scientists
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