Astronomers have discovered two planets a little more massive than Earth orbiting a nearby star. Unlike many other stars hosting planetary systems, this one is relatively inactive — so it doesn’t emit flares of energy that could hurt the chances of life existing on the planets.
“It’s the best star in close proximity to the Sun to understand whether its planets have atmospheres and whether they have life,” says Sandra Jeffers, an astronomer at Göttingen University in Germany who led the discovery team. The finding was published on 25 June in Science1.
The star, called GJ 887, is just under 3.3 parsecs (10.7 light years) from Earth, in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. It is the brightest red-dwarf star visible from Earth.
Red dwarfs are smaller and cooler than the Sun, and many have planets orbiting them. But most are very active, with magnetic energy roiling their surface and releasing floods of charged particles into space during eruptions known as stellar flares. Many famous planetary systems orbit active red-dwarf stars, such as Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, and TRAPPIST-1, which has seven Earth-sized worlds. Astronomers say the planets in these systems might not be able to support life, because their stars constantly blast them with powerful radiation.
By contrast, planets in the newfound system could survive relatively unscathed. “GJ 887 is exciting because the central star is so quiet,” says Jeffers. “That’s the exceptional part.”
To read more, click here.