Astronomers find a new planetary system close to Earth and are ‘optimistic’ there will be habitable worlds

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “We consider that range outside the habitable zone, too hot for liquid water to exist on the surface,” Michelle Kunimoto, a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and one of the discovery’s lead scientists, says. “Both planets in this system are each considered among the best targets for atmospheric study because of the brightness of their star,” says Michelle Kunimoto, a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and one of the discovery’s lead scientists. These planets are fantastic test beds for those explorations.” The system was first spotted by Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which detected periodic dips in the light from HD 260655 – indicative of a planet passing in front of the star. “What we’re looking for is any slight movement of that star that could indicate a planetary-mass object is tugging on it.” Scientists have now discovered over 5,000 exoplanets orbiting distant suns.