It’s in a tantalizing place.
137 light-years away
While that is kind of close to Earth in the grand scheme of things, the tantalizing place they’re referring to is the habitable zone around its star where the temperatures are right for the planet to have liquid water on the surface.
It makes sense if you know who Tantalus is.
Yeah it really works in terms of water being tantalizingly visible but impossibly out of reach.
Around an M type star. It orbits 0.083 AU away from its star. Its atmosphere is probably long gone. Fuggidaboutit.
Why so? The article says astronomers are hopeful about the possibility of atmosphere and liquid water
Tidal locking plus solar flares.
Every YouTube video from credible sources is filled with several unlikely ifs regarding habitable planets around red dwarfs. The odds are slim.
Also, in general, I avoid journalists informing me what scientists are saying and get my information straight from scientist communicators. Journalist income is based on advertising views, and they think that “new exoplanet probably does NOT have aliens” won’t generate sufficient ad revenue.
Thanks!
M type stars are tiny and cold compared to the sun. For this reason they can host planets that orbit much closer. In this case the planet is inside the goldilocks zone which means it’s at the perfect distance for liquid water to exist.
Great. Another planet our descendants can destroy 😔
lololololol
