{"id":5906,"date":"2023-03-30T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=5906"},"modified":"2024-06-20T17:06:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T17:06:14","slug":"distant-star-toi-700-has-two-potentially-habitable-planets-orbiting-it-making-it-an-excellent-candidate-in-the-search-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/distant-star-toi-700-has-two-potentially-habitable-planets-orbiting-it-making-it-an-excellent-candidate-in-the-search-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Distant star TOI-700 has two potentially habitable planets orbiting it \u2013 making it an excellent candidate in the search for life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The TOI-700 star system is home to four planets, including two in its habitable zone that could host liquid water.\n NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nJoey Rodriguez<\/a>, Michigan State University<\/a><\/em> and Andrew Vanderburg<\/a>, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

NASA recently announced the discovery of a new, Earth-sized planet<\/a> in the habitable zone of a nearby star called TOI-700. We are<\/a> two of<\/a> the astronomers who led the discovery of this planet, called TOI-700 e. TOI-700 e is just over 100 light years from Earth \u2013 too far away for humans to visit \u2013 but we do know that it is similar in size to the Earth, likely rocky in composition and could potentially support life.<\/p>\n\n

You\u2019ve probably heard about some of the many<\/a> other<\/a> exoplanet<\/a> discoveries<\/a> in recent<\/a> years. In fact, TOI-700 e is one of two potentially habitable planets just in the TOI-700 star system. <\/p>\n\n

Habitable planets are those that are just the right distance from their star to have a surface temperature that could sustain liquid water. While it is always exciting to find a new, potentially habitable planet far from Earth, the focus of exoplanet research is shifting away from simply discovering more planets. Instead, researchers are focusing their efforts on finding and studying systems most likely to answer key questions about how planets form, how they evolve, and whether life might exist in the universe. TOI-700 e stands out from many of these other planet discoveries because it is well suited for future studies that could help answer big question about the conditions for life outside the solar system. <\/p>\n\n

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