A team of researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of New Mexico has reportedly discovered a new exoplanet similar to Earth.
The planet reportedly has an Earth-like atmosphere. The exoslent similar to Earth is called TOI-1231 b.
The planet was detected using photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and followed up with observations using the Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) on the Magellan Clay telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
According to Science Daily, TOI-1231 b is smaller than Neptune with an orbital period of 24 days. The exoplanet orbiting the nearby dwarf star M.
The dwarf star M, also known as the red dwarf star is the most common type of star in the Milky Way that makes up about 70 percent of all stars in the galaxy.
"TOI-1231 b is very similar in size and density to Neptune, so we think it has an equally large gas atmosphere," said NASA JPL scientist and lead author, Jennifer Burt.
UNM Department of Physics and Astronomy scientist Diana Dragomir delivered TOI 1231b eight times closer to its star than Earth to the Sun. The temperature is also similar to Earth's, due to its colder, less bright parent star.
"However, the planet itself is actually larger than earth and slightly smaller than Neptune, we can call it sub-Neptune," Dragomir said.
Visiting unm's official website, the temperature of TOI-1231b is about 330 Kelvin or 140 degrees Fahrenheit. It makes TOI-1231b one of the coolest small exoplanets accessible for atmospheric studies found so far.
Previous research has shown that such a cold planet may have high clouds in its atmosphere, which makes it difficult for researchers to determine what type of gas surrounds it. However, evidence of the presence of water in the atmosphere surprised many astronomers.
"TOI-1231 b is the only other planet we know of in the same size and temperature range, so future observations of this new planet will allow us to determine how common (or rare) water clouds form there," Burt said.
Dragomir added TOI 1231b is surrounded by a substantial atmosphere rather than being a rocky planet due to its low density. However, it does not yet know the composition and extent of the planet's atmosphere.
"TOI1231b can have a large hydrogen or hydrogen-helium atmosphere, or a denser water vapor atmosphere," Dragomir said.
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