Two Earth-like planets discovered around dwarf star
Scientists have discovered two new Earth-like planets around one of the closest stars within our galactic neighbourhood.
The planets are located only 12.5 light years away orbiting the Teegarden star -- a red dwarf in the direction of the constellation of Aries, according to the study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Its surface temperature is 2,700 degrees Celsius, and its mass is only one-tenth that of the Sun, researchers said.
Even though it is so near, its faintness impeded its discovery until 2003.
"We have been observing this star for three years to look for periodic variations in its velocity," said Mathias Zechmeister, a researcher at the University of Gottingen in Germany.
The observations showed that two planets are orbiting it, both of them similar to the planets in the inner part of the Solar System.
They are just a little bigger than the Earth and are situated in the 'habitable zone' where water can exist as a liquid, according to the researchers.
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