A group of Pennsylvania astronomers have just confirmed the existence of G 9-40b, a giant super-Earth just 90 light years from our planet, making it one of the closest known exoplanets.
The planet is at least twice as massive as Earth and may even be as large as Neptune. It was first discovered by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope in 2019.
The team used the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF), a low-mass planet-finding tool attached to the 10-meter Hobby-Eberley telescope at the MacDonald Observatory in Texas.
But this particular planet is not very habitable. Its surface heats up over 3100 degrees Celsius – hot, but still much colder than the Sun.
The fact that it is only about 90 light-years away means that it is 'among the 20 nearest known transit planetary systems and is currently the second closest transit planet discovered by the K2 mission to date,' according to Gudmundur Stefansson, host the author of an article published in Astronomical Journal earlier this month.
Astronomers believe the exoplanet is an excellent candidate for closer inspection by the James Webb Space Telescope, which is slated to launch in March 2021.
Sources: Photo: NASA
