Earth-Sized Exoplanet Found 55 Million Light-years Away From Our Planet

New details on an exoplanet just 55 million light-years away reveal how they form and their potential for life.

By Elizabeth Gamillo
May 16, 2024 3:30 PMMay 22, 2024 3:20 PM
speculoos (NASA) rocky exoplanet in orbit around a red dwarf star, which is emitting a solar flare
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Exoplanets, or planets far from our solar system, are always exciting to discover. With each one, researchers learn more about how these exoplanets form and whether they can support life and star systems across the universe.

A team of researchers from various universities just identified another exoplanet about the same size as Earth, 55 light-years away, which is very close when compared to cosmic scales.

The exoplanet, dubbed SPECULOOS-3 b, is only the second of its kind currently known and takes 17 hours to orbit around its host star, an ultracool dwarf. The exoplanet’s sun is as big as Jupiter, about twice as cold as our sun, and even much less luminous, according to a press release.

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