TOI-715b is a “super-Earth” that orbits a red dwarf star about 137 light-years away. It’s about 1.55 times the radius of Earth and is located within the star’s habitable zone. The habitable zone is the distance from a star where a planet can have the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface

Here are some other planets that have been discovered in the habitable zone:

• TOI 700 e: A planet that’s 95% the size of Earth and is likely rocky. It’s located about 100 light years from Earth and could potentially support life. 
• LP 890-9 c: A “super-Earth” that’s 40% larger than Earth and is likely rocky. 
• Kepler-186f: A planet that confirms that planets the size of Earth can exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun. 
• Wolf 1069 b: A planet that could be habitable, at least on the side facing its star

Key facts: The bigger planet, dubbed TOI-715 b, is about one and a half times as wide as Earth, and orbits within the “conservative” habitable zone around its parent star. That’s the distance from the star that could give the planet the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface

Some say super-Earths are more habitable than Earth and could support more biodiverse ecosystems. However, there are challenges to consider when determining if a super-Earth is habitable. 

Some say a super-Earth would need to be warmer than Earth, older, and orbit a K-type main-sequence star to be super-habitable. It would also need to have a mass of around 2 Earth masses and a radius between 1.2 and 1.3 Earth radii. 

However, a super-Earth may face challenges like distance, gravity, atmosphere, and surface conditions. For example, Kepler-452b is a super-Earth in the habitable zone, but it’s far from Earth and its gravity, atmosphere, and surface conditions may be different from Earth. This could make it unsuitable for human habitation without significant technological advancements.

The recently discovered super-Earth, TOI-715 b, might be making its appearance at just the right time. Its parent star is a red dwarf, smaller and cooler than our Sun; a number of such stars are known to host small, rocky worlds. At the moment, they’re the best bet for finding habitable planets

According to NASA, red dwarf stars are the best bet for finding habitable planets. Red dwarf stars are smaller and cooler than our sun, and many of them host small, rocky worlds

Here are some other factors that can help in the search for habitable planets:

• K stars: The abundance of K stars can increase the chances of finding life. 
• M and K stars: Planets in the habitable zone around these stars are easier to detect with the Doppler technique. 
• Icy worlds: Icy worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus may be habitable for some form of life. According to NASA, a habitable planet is one that can sustain life for a significant period. Based on our solar system, life requires liquid water, energy, and nutrients

Astronomers focus their search for habitable planets on the habitable zone, which is the region around a star where planets can maintain liquid water on their surface. The habitable zone is also known as the “Goldilocks zone” because planets orbiting at that “just right” distance from a star are not too hot or too cold to host liquid water

Scientists also need to study a world’s atmosphere, magnetic field, and even geological composition in order to really know if it’s capable of hosting life. 

Here are some other places to look for habitable planets:

• Mars Mars is considered the best place to find extraterrestrial life in our solar system. It was once habitable billions of years ago, when it had lakes and rivers of liquid water on its surface. Mars also has liquid water, a habitable temperature, and a bit of an atmosphere that can help protect humans from cosmic and solar radiation. 
• TRAPPIST-1 e This Earth-size exoplanet may be the most potentially habitable of all of them. Its density is similar to Earth’s, and scientists consider it the most likely to possibly have water on its surface. 
• Proxima b This is the closest potentially habitable planet to Earth, located 4.22 light years away

According to Wikipedia, the appropriate spectral range for habitable stars is “late F” or “G”, to “mid-K”. This corresponds to temperatures of a little more than 7,000 K down to a little less than 4,000 K (6,700 °C to 3,700 °C). The Sun, a G2 star at 5,777 K, is well within these bounds. 

Some scientists consider stars slightly cooler and less luminous than our Sun, called orange dwarfs, as potentially better for advanced life. They can burn steadily for tens of billions of years. 

According to NASA, K dwarf stars are the most likely to have habitable planets. K stars are smaller, cooler, and less luminous than G type stars. These characteristics make K type stars more suitable for sustaining life on orbiting planets than G type stars.

According to Penn State, most stars that are searched for life-bearing planets are F, G, K, or M stars. This is because O, B, and most A stars have such short lifetimes that their planets likely won’t be able to develop complex life forms. 

Here are some other types of stars that may be good for searching for life:

• K stars These stars are dimmer than the sun but brighter than the faintest stars. They are also three times more abundant than sun-like stars. K stars are considered ideal for searching for life because they allow time for highly evolved life to develop. 
• M-dwarf stars These stars are very common in the universe and are relatively small and dim. This makes it easy for astronomers to detect a passing planet. 
• F-type stars These stars have stable lifetimes of 2 to 4 billion years, which is expected to be enough time for life to originate and evolve. 

Astronomers search for signs of life on exoplanets by looking for gases produced by life that accumulate in the atmosphere. These gases can be detected by remote sensing with space telescopes. 

Astronomers also look for:

• Oxygen: A high oxygen detectability index indicates that the oxygen in the atmosphere is due to life. However, the detectability index drops for exoplanets that are similar to Earth. 
• Oxygen ions: A peak concentration of oxygen ions (O+) in the ionosphere indicates photosynthesis. 
• Water: Most searchers look for water. 
• Carbon dioxide, ozone, and water vapor: The Planetary Society hopes to observe signatures of these gases. Astronomers use a method called transit spectroscopy to split light from the atmospheres of exoplanets into a rainbow spectrum. This provides a list of gases and chemicals in the atmosphere, including those linked to life

TOI-715 b is not the only planet in its system. There might be another one, slightly larger than Earth, that also lies within the star’s habitable zone. The habitable zone is the region around a star where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist on the surface of a planet, which is considered a key ingredient for life. However, the habitable zone is not a guarantee of habitability. Many other factors, such as the planet’s atmosphere, geology, and history, also play a role in determining whether a planet can support life.

TOI-715 b was discovered by TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a NASA mission that scans the sky for planets that pass before their stars, causing a slight dip in the star’s brightness. TESS has been finding hundreds of new planets since its launch in 2018, many of them around red dwarfs, which are the most common type of star in the galaxy. Red dwarfs have some advantages and disadvantages for hosting habitable planets. On the one hand, they are long-lived and stable, giving planets more time to evolve. On the other hand, they are often active and flare-prone, which could harm the planets’ atmospheres and life forms.

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