MOSCOW, June 25. A team of scientists has discovered three super-Earths, one of which is in the habitable zone, says an article for the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
«The analysis identified three candidate planets with orbital periods of 7. 3, 38 and 151 Earth days. <…> The farthest of them is in the habitable zone,” the text states.
Super-Earth is a class of planets larger than Earth, but lighter than Neptune. These cosmic bodies consist of gas, rocks, or a combination of both.
The study of star HD 48948 was carried out using HARPS-N spectrograph, scientists collected 189 high-precision radial velocity measurements over a period of just under ten years. The minimum mass of discovered exoplanets, according to scientists' calculations, is 5-11 times higher than that of Earth.
Based on the data obtained, the team recognized the star HD 48948 as the closest planetary system with a super-Earth in the star's habitable zone, similar to the Sun.