New 'Super-Earth' found: Scientists discover massive water-rich planet which is just...

Astronomers have discovered a new exoplanet that is being called a “super-Earth” due to its size and features. The planet, named TOI-1846 b, is located around 154 light-years away from Earth and is nearly twice as big and over four times heavier than our planet. The discovery was made by a team of astronomers led by Abderahmane Soubkiou from the Oukaimeden Observatory in Morocco. They used NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to detect the planet. Their findings were published on the arXiv preprint server, and they believe this new planet could be rich in water. In the research paper, the scientists explained that they confirmed the presence of TOI-1846 b using various methods. These included data from TESS, ground-based telescopes, high-resolution imaging, and spectroscopic observations (which study how light interacts with matter). They estimate that this planet is about 7.2 billion years old, making it older than Earth.

TOI-1846 b has a radius of around 1.79 times that of Earth and is about 4.4 times more massive. It orbits its star every 3.93 days, meaning its year is extremely short. The planet has a temperature of around 568 Kelvin, which is about 295°C, suggesting it’s very hot.

The parent star, called TOI-1846, is much smaller and cooler than our Sun. It is about 0.4 times the size of the Sun and has a temperature of 3,568 Kelvin. Like the planet, the star is also thought to be around 7.2 billion years old.

Scientists say TOI-1846 b may be water-rich, but they need to study it further to know for sure. They suggest using the MAROON-X instrument to measure the planet’s mass and better understand its composition. They also noted that the planet’s transmission spectroscopy metric (TSM) is 47, which is low for detailed atmospheric studies but still offers valuable insights.

Interestingly, this isn’t the only super-Earth discovered recently. Earlier this year, scientists found another one named HD 20794 d, located about 20 light-years away. It’s six times heavier than Earth and lies in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star, meaning it might have liquid water. However, this planet follows an elliptical orbit, which makes it hard to know if it could actually support life.

Both discoveries show that there are many Earth-like worlds waiting to be explored outside our solar system.