Researchers have found three new exoplanets orbiting a nearby star 12 light-years away.
“We are now one step closer [to] getting a census of rocky planets in the solar neighborhood,” Ignasi Ribas, researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences, said in a keynote address in Barcelona, Spain, online science portal Astronomy.com reported.
POSSIBILITY OF LIQUID WATER ON THE SURFACE
All three rocky exoplanets, a term which refers to planets outside the solar system, are thought to be at least 1.4 to 1.8 times the mass of Earth. It takes these exoplanets about 13 days to orbit their star, according to researchers.
The research team said one of the exoplanets, where temperatures are compatible with the possibility of liquid water on the surface, is ranked highly for potential habitability.
Underlining that this does not mean life is waiting for us 12 light-years away, scientists noted the exoplanet was probably active in its recent past. A light-year equals the distance light takes to travel in one year and measures about 6 trillion miles.