An international team discovered an Earth-sized planet orbiting a long-lived red dwarf, providing unique insights into potentially habitable worlds. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Researchers using global robotic telescopes discovered an Earth-sized planet, SPECULOOS-3 b, orbiting an ultra-cool red dwarf within the
An artist’s concept of the exoplanet SPECULOOS-3 b orbiting its red dwarf star. The planet is as big around as Earth, while its star is slightly bigger than Jupiter – but much more massive. Credit: Lionel Garcia
Exploration of Ultra-Cool Dwarfs
In our corner of the galaxy, ultra-cool dwarf stars are ubiquitous. They are so faint that their planetary population is largely unexplored. The SPECULOOS (Search for Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) project, led by Michael Gillon at the University of Liège, Belgium, was designed to change that. Ultra-cool dwarf stars are scattered across the sky, so you need to observe them one by one, for weeks, to get a good chance to detect transiting planets. For that, you need a dedicated network of professional telescopes. This is the concept of SPECULOOS.
‘‘We designed SPECULOOS specifically to explore nearby ultra-cool dwarf stars in search of rocky planets,’’ Gillon said. ‘‘With the SPECULOOS prototype and the crucial help of the
Fun Facts
- While the planet is as big around as Earth, its star is just a tad bigger than DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02271-2