Potentially Habitable "Super-Earth" Discovered Just 20 Light-Years Away

A "super-Earth" located outside our solar system is raising hopes for the possibility of extraterrestrial life, according to findings from the University of Oxford.

Scientists believe the exoplanet HD 20794 d, six times the mass of Earth, could harbour liquid water on its surface. Located 20 light-years away, it orbits within the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. 

Dr Michael Cretignier, a postdoctoral research assistant at the University's Physics Department, expressed excitement over the discovery of HD 20794 d, emphasizing its proximity to Earth as a promising factor for future space missions.

"Excitingly, its closeness to us means there is hope for future missions to capture an image of it," Dr Cretignier stated.

However, unlike Earth's circular orbit, HD 20794 d follows an elliptical path, making it uncertain whether the planet could support life.

Dr Cretignier first identified HD 20794 d in 2022 while analyzing archived data from the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph at Chile's La Silla Observatory. After detecting a possible signal, an international research team examined two decades of observations to confirm the planet's existence.

"For me, it was a huge joy when we could finally confirm it," Dr Cretignier said.

"It was also a relief, as the original signal was at the very edge of the spectrograph's detection limit, making it difficult to be completely certain at first."

Dr Cretignier believes that HD 20794 d could be crucial for upcoming space missions, particularly those searching for biosignatures-chemical indicators of potential life on distant planets.

"This planet could play a pivotal role in future missions looking for signs of life," he explained. "I'm eager to see what other scientists discover, especially since it is among the closest Earth-like planets we know and has such an unusual orbit."

The findings were published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, marking a significant step forward in the search for potentially habitable exoplanets.