LP 890-9c, potentially habitable planet

In orbit around LP 890-9, a red dwarf star also known as TOI-4306 or SPECULOOS-2 and located about 100 light-years from Earth, the existence of a planet has been confirmed and another discovered. The newly discovered is within the habitable zone around its star, the orbital strip in which the heat received from the star, not being insufficient or excessive, allows the existence of liquid water on the surface of a terrestrial-type planet. .

The research that has culminated in these findings is the work of the international team of Laetitia Delrez, from the University of Liège in Belgium.

The first planet, LP 890-9b (or TOI-4306b), the closest to its star, was initially identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope. This planet, which is 30 percent larger than Earth, completes one orbit around the star in just 2.7 days. Since it is too close to its star (about 2.8 million km), its temperature is too high for life to be possible on it.

The second planet, LP 890-9c (or SPECULOOS-2c), is about 40 percent larger than Earth. It is similar in size to LP 890-9b, but has a longer orbital period of about 8.5 days. It is at a suitable distance from its star (almost 6 million kilometers) so that the heat received from it is adequate to allow the existence of liquid water on its surface. The incident stellar flux on LP 890-9c is about 91 percent of that incident on Earth. In theory, it would be a slightly cooler planet than our own, but, depending on the chemical composition of the atmosphere, it could experience a greenhouse effect that retains heat and makes it a world warmer than Earth.

Artistic recreation of the planet LP 890-9c with its star. (Illustration: Jorge Munnshe for Amazings/NCYT)

The revealing study of the planets in LP 890-9 is entitled “Two temperate super-Earths transiting a nearby late-type M dwarf.” And it has been published in the academic journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. (Font: NCYT by Amazings)