The planet was first spotted by NASA’s TESS space telescope, followed by observations from other telescopes
An international team of astronomers has announced that they have discovered an exoplanet, the TOI-1452 b, which is probably rocky and covered entirely by a deep ocean. The exoplanet, which is slightly larger than Earth in size and quite a bit more massive (almost five times), orbits a small star in the constellation Draco about 100 light-years from our own planet.
The distance of the exoplanet from its star is suitable, so that its temperature is neither too high nor too low, so it is considered possible to maintain liquid water on its surface. In fact, the scientists, led by Charles Cantier of the University of Montreal, who made the relevant publication in the astronomy journal “The Astronomical Journal”believe that the planet is probably covered by a deep layer of water.
The planet was first spotted by NASA’s TESS space telescope, followed by observations from other telescopes. The parent star TOI-1452, an M dwarf, is much smaller than our Sun and is accompanied by a second star of similar size, forming a double star system, with one star 97 AU away from the other (about 2 .5 times the Sun-Pluto distance).
About 70% of the Earth is covered by water, but it makes up less than 1% of its mass. Some exoplanets are estimated to have much more water, making up a significantly larger fraction of their mass (in the case of TOI-1452 b up to 30%, a percentage similar to moons such as Jupiter’s Ganymede and Callisto and Saturn’s Titan and Enceladus ), which is why they have been labeled “water” or “oceanic” worlds.
“TOI-1452 b is one of the best ocean planet candidates we have found to date“, said Candie. The exoplanet in question will be further studied by the powerful new James Webb Space Telescope, as it is close enough to Earth to study its atmosphere. The researchers also want to confirm that it is indeed a water world, as they cannot rule out, for now, that it is a rocky, dry planet.
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