Discovered habitable planet closest to Earth – La Prensa de Honduras

Sydney, Australia

Australian scientists have discovered the closest planet to Earth that could be potentially habitable, reported today academic sources.

The planet Wolf 1061c is one of three that were discovered by a team from the University of New South Wales (UNSW, acronym) outside the solar system about 14 light years distance from the Earth.

“It’s fascinating to see the immensity and think that a star so close to us, a close neighbor could host a habitable planet,” said in a statement Duncan Wright, who led the research.

The three planets orbiting the “Wolf 1061″ in orbits of 5, 18 and 67 days dwarf, have masses that exceed, respectively, 1.4, 4.3 and 5.2 times that of Earth.

The largest planet is outside the habitable zone, also called “Goldilocks”, which refers to a region that is “neither too hot nor too cold “and that meets the conditions necessary for life, while the smallest is too close to the star it orbits to be habitable.

But” the medium planet, Wolf 1061c, is located in the area ‘ Goldilocks’, where there could be liquid and even living water, “added Wright.

The discovery, to be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, relied on observations of” Wolf 1061 ” made with the European Southern Observatory telescope at La Silla (Chile).

The small rocky planets like Earth seem to abound in the galaxy, but most seem to be hundreds or thousands of light years away, Gliesse except 667Cc, which is 22 orbit around the star is 28 days light years.