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Image illustrating the newly discovered Earth-like exoplanet, characterized similarly to Earth, recently detected by NASA. Photo: NASA
TOI 700 e has been confirmed to orbit within the realm of TOI 700, its star, at a distance that offers a chance for the development of life.
Here, water could exist on its surface in a liquid state under suitable temperatures. Planets with such temperatures are deemed “habitable.”
TOI 700 e was found and named through NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), with TOI standing for TESS Object of Interest.
It is the second planet within the potentially habitable zone of this star system, the first being TOI 700 d, which was discovered in 2020.
Emily Gilbert from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California remarked, “This is one of only a few systems discovered so far that has a small planet orbiting in the habitable zone. That makes TOI 700 a very interesting system to study. Planet e is smaller than Planet d, probably about 10%, which shows us that TESS is helping us find planets that are getting smaller and smaller.”
TOI 700 is a small, cool star (referred to as an M dwarf) located around 100 light-years away from us in the Dorado constellation.
These stars are not as large or hot as our Sun, so planets need to be closer to them for conditions suitable for water not to freeze.
TOI 700 e is estimated to be 95% the size of Earth and predominantly rocky. Unlike TOI 700 e, TOI 700 d falls within a narrower habitable zone, where astronomers speculate liquid water could appear for most of the planet’s existence.
TOI 700 e completes an orbit in 28 days, while TOI 700 d, slightly farther from its neighbor, takes 37 days. As TOI 700 e is smaller than TOI 700 d, more data is needed for confirmation.
Astrophysicist Ben Hord from the University of Maryland stated, “If the star were a little hotter or the planet a little larger, it would be a different story. If the star were a little hotter or the planet a little larger, it would be a different story. The signal-to-noise ratio was so low that we needed to observe for nearly a year to get this information.”
TESS is monitoring around 100 million stars, and someday, humanity might discover an Earth-like planet.
Both TOI 700 e and TOI 700 d are believed to be tidally locked. In other words, one side of the planet perpetually faces its star (similar to how the Moon always faces Earth).
Having one side of a planet continuously “baked” by sunlight or a similar light source would reduce the likelihood of complex life surviving.