Astronomers discovered a new planet with an important similarity to Earth

bgrpro65 juin 09, 2021

Exoplanet discoveries used to be nothing but a dream for scientists, but new telescope technology and more advanced observation techniques have made the task of finding planets outside of our solar system easier than ever. In fact, so many new exoplanets are being found these days that scientists have to pick and choose which ones are most in need of study since there simply aren't enough eyes to go around.

Now, a massive international team of astronomers and other scientists have revealed the discovery of a particularly interesting exoplanet that is sure to get a lot of attention. It's called TOI-1231b, and it orbits a star much cooler than our own Sun. The star, named NLTT 24399, is a red dwarf, so despite TOI-1231b being much closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun, the planet is actually similar in temperature, and it is thought to have a robust atmosphere that warrants future study.