This is the new potentially habitable planet announced by NASA just 137 light-years away.

A research team led by Georgina Dransfield at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom published a paper last month on a possible habitable planet located just 137 lightyears away. “The bigger planet, dubbed TOI-715 b, is about one and a half times as wide as Earth, and orbits within the “conservative” habitable zone around its parent star,” wrote NASA’s Pat Brennan in a blog published in late January. This distance is considered critical when sustaining life, as it would be necessary to ensure “the planet the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface.” The “Goldilocks zone” is shorthand for areas where planets meet some basic conditions that indicate that life may be possible on their surface.

How are earthlike planets identified?

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) was used to identify the planet. TESS has been in use since 2018 and is designed to observe sectors of the sky for 27 days. This extended observation helps the satellite track variations in the brightness of stars caused by a planet as it passes in front of its star, as viewed from Earth. TESS started observing the southern hemisphere sky in 2018, moved to the northern hemisphere in 2019, and returned to observe the southern sky again in 2020. After collecting data for a year, scientists were able to refine the sizes of planets by 10 percent.

How does TOI-715b differ from earth?

The earth-like planet that has been discovered rotates around a red dwarf, which are smaller and cooler than our sun, a yellow swarf. The scientists also note that because the star the planet orbits around is cooler, the orbit is much “tighter,” which would make a year on this planet only nineteen days.

NASA, as well as researchers in the United Kingdom, will continue to collect data on the planet using the James Webb telescope to figure out whether or not there is an atmosphere on the planet that would support life.

The stockpile continues to grow

NASA’s TESS discovered an Earth-sized planet named TOI 700 e that orbits within its star’s habitable zone in 2020. The planet is located in the “Goldilocks” or habitable zone, where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist on its surface, making it a potential candidate for life. The planet is 95% the size of Earth and is believed to be rocky.

Apart from TOI 700 e, astronomers have also discovered three other planets, TOI 700 b, c, and d. Planet d is also within the habitable zone, making it another potential candidate for life. TOI 700 b, in the habitable zone more recently, and many scientists are hopeful about its similarities to earth. Like TOI-715 b, years on this planet are much shorter, and it finishes a rotation in just ten days. TOI 700 b is also only 100 light-years away.