Monday October 3, 2022 05:10 am
According to Space, one planet is 30% larger than Earth and orbits its star in less than three days, and the other is 70% larger than Earth and may host a deep ocean, and these two exoplanets are planets with a mass greater than Earth but smaller than Ice giants like Uranus and Neptune.
Earth is still the only place in the universe that scientists know is home to life, and it might seem logical to focus the search for life on Earth clones, ie planets with near-Earth characteristics.
But research has shown that astronomers’ best chance of finding life on another planet is likely to be on a super-Earth similar to the one found recently.
Also, based on current projections, about a third of exoplanets are super-Earths, making them the most common type of exoplanet in the Milky Way, with perhaps the closest being only 6 light-years from Earth.
Another reason that super-Earths are ideal targets in the search for life is that they are much easier to detect and study than Earth-sized planets.
Source: Technology: New details about exoplanets that may be habitable