It’s possible that an exoplanet found roughly 100 light-years away is an ocean world. This super-Earth, known as TOI-1452b, has been the subject of recent research, and one of them mentions that it might have a lot more liquid water than our planet has.
The planet was discovered by the TESS telescope using the transit method. It orbits the star TOI-1452, a M-type red dwarf. This star has roughly one-fourth the mass and radius of the Sun, but it is much weaker and emits 0.007 times as much radiation as our Sun does.
Super-Earths can be up to twice as massive as our planet and rarely resemble it in appearance. The exoplanet, TOI-1452b, has a diameter that is roughly 1.67 times that of Earth and is more like our planet than any other super-Earths that are currently known.
As red dwarfs are the most prevalent type of stars in the Milky Way, these are the exoplanet types that are most frequently observed. Super-Earths with diameters of 1.5 and 2 times the Earth, however, are less common than anticipated.
The planet’s metallic core is covered in a thick layer of rocky material, and its average density is 5.6 g/cm3, roughly the same as Earth’s. The fact that there is a far higher amount of water than on Earth is what has surprised astronomers the most.
At a distance of around 9 million miles (1/16 of the distance between Earth and the Sun), the planet orbits its star every 11.1 days. This implies that the temperature must be higher than the average temperature of the Earth, or between 25 and 50 °C. If there is water on the surface, that would be more than enough to keep an ocean liquid.
The James Web telescope, which includes a tool to identify compounds found in the atmospheres of exoplanets, will be used by astronomers to break the deadlock. He discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-39b in late August, and he will soon be able to dispel any lingering questions regarding TOI-1452b.
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