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Home 2. Outreach 3. News 4. The IAC confirms the existence of a Super-earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star The IAC confirms the existence of a Super-earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star Super-earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star/Gabriel Perez (IAC) Super-earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star/Gabriel Perez (IAC) Advertised on 01/28/2025 - 10:00:00 The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) has confirmed the discovery of a super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of HD 20794, a nearby Sun-like star. This discovery, the result of over two decades of observations, opens a window to future studies of Earth-like planetary atmospheres. The search for planets in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars is crucial for understanding the possibility of life beyond Earth and for studying conditions similar to those that enabled the development of life on our own planet. In this context, HD 20794, a star with a slightly lower mass than the Sun and located just 20 light-years away, has always been of great scientific interest. The newly discovered planet is the third planet identified in the system, following the discovery of two super-Earths published more than a decade ago. [planeta_zona_habitabilidad_ENG_4K] Recreation of the planet HD 20794 and its orbit/ Gabriel Perez (IAC) The name of the new planet is HD 20794 d and is a super-Earth with a mass six times that of Earth, taking 647 days to complete an orbit around its star, 40 days less than Mars. This orbit places it within the habitable zone of the system, meaning it is at the right distance from its star to sustain liquid water on its surface, one of the key ingredients for life as we know it. It is precisely the combination of the planet's distance from its star and the proximity of the system that makes it particularly attractive, rendering it a perfect candidate for observations with the ELT, ESO's 40-meter telescope, or future space missions by ESA and NASA. "This is the perfect type of planet for characterizing terrestrial planet atmospheres with next-generation instruments and missions", explains Nicola Nari, a researcher at Lightbridges S.L., a doctoral student at the Universidad de La Laguna and the study's lead author, published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics. "In fact, we know of very few similar planets", notes Alejandro Suarez Mascareno, a researcher at the IAC and co-author of the work. "This will surely be one of the first we can study", adds. [planeta_zona_habitabilidad_ENG_2K] Recreation of the habitable zone/ Gabriel Perez (IAC) This discovery was made possible thanks to over 20 years of radial velocity measurements from the ESPRESSO and HARPS spectrographs, both installed at ESO observatories in Chile. These instruments, among the most advanced in the world, can measure the tiny variations in stellar velocity caused by the gravitational pull of planets in a system. "Very few instruments in the world can achieve the level of precision required for a discovery like this", explains Nicola Nari. To go even further, the team applied sophisticated processing techniques to the spectra obtained. "We worked on data analysis for years, gradually analyzing and eliminating all possible sources of contamination", explains Michael Cretignier, a co-author of the study and researcher at the University of Oxford. This meticulous analysis revealed the presence of a candidate signal identified in 2022. The team immediately launched a new observation campaign to confirm it. "After two years of adding new measurements, we can confirm we have a robust detection", adds Nathan Hara, a researcher at the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory. [conjunto_planetas_2K_h264_6mbps] Recreation of the planet HD 20794 and its orbit/ Gabriel Perez (IAC) Although the planet is located in the system's habitable zone, it is too early to say whether it could host life. Its high mass and eccentric orbit make it a very different world from ours. Unlike most planets in the Solar System, HD 20794 d's orbit is not circular but elliptical. Its distance from its star changes significantly, causing the planet to move from the outer edge of the habitable zone to the inner edge throughout its year. "HD 20794 d is not a second home for humanity, but its position and peculiar orbit give us a unique opportunity to study how the conditions for habitability vary over time and how these variations may influence the evolution of the planet's atmosphere", says Alejandro Suarez Mascareno, researcher at the IAC and co-author of the work. Researchers from the IAC, including Jonay I. Gonzalez Hernandez, Atanas K. Stefanov, Rafael Rebolo, Carlos Allende Prieto, and Enric Palle, also contributed to this publication. Contact: Jonay I. Gonzalez Hernandez jonay [at] iac.es (jonay[at]iac[dot]es) Rafael Rebolo rrl [at] iac.es (rrl[at]iac[dot]es) Carlos Allende Prieto carlos.allende.prieto [at] iac.es (carlos[dot] allende[dot]prieto[at]iac[dot]es) Enric Palle epalle [at] iac.es (epalle[at]iac[dot]es) News type Press release It may interest you * Image of the exterior lighting of the jetty of Puerto de las Nieves, in Agaete (Gran Canaria). Press release The IAC will advise Puertos Canarios to reduce light pollution from their installations The Technical Office for the Protection of the Quality of the Sky (OTPC) of the IAC is collaborating to advise about the implementation of energy efficiency and the reduction of light pollution in the port installations of general interest which belong to the public company Puertos Canarios. Specifically, the IAC has just issued a report which checks out the exterior lighting of the installations of the Port of las Nieves in Agaete (Gran Canaria), and in the coming months expects to carry out suitable tests in the Port of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey (La Gomera) and the Port of Garachico Advertised on 09/09/2024 - 11:00 + Read more * Sunrise III moments before take-off in July 2024. Press release The Sunrise III mission obtains data from the Sun with unprecedented resolution in space and time At the present time ground-based observatories have a wide range of instruments which can study the solar surface in the visible and infrared ranges. But it is not possible to combine these observations with those in the near ultraviolet, which cover the wavelength range from 200 to 400 nanometres, nor to maintain them for long periods due to the turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. In this context, the Sunrise III mission, in which the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) is collaborating, " has become the first observatory to obtain spectropolarimetric data simultaneously in the Advertised on 12/17/2024 - 10:00:00 + Read more * Las doctoras Honoris Causa de la ULL en su visita al Observatorio del Teide / IAC Press release Las doctoras Honoris Causa de la ULL visitan el Observatorio del Teide El Observatorio del Teide, del Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), recibio este domingo la visitas de las recien nombradas doctoras Honoris Causa de la Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), quienes pudieron conocer de primera mano como se trabaja en uno de los observatorios astrofisicos mas importantes del mundo. La escritora Ken Bugul, la teorica de la comunicacion Amparo Moreno Sarda y la historiadora de la ciencia Londa Schiebinger estuvieron acompanadas por altos cargos de la comunidad universitaria y fueron recibidas por el administrador del Observatorio del Teide, David Lopez Nespral Advertised on 01/20/2025 - 11:21:26 + Read more Gobierno de Espana - Ministerio de Ciencia https://www.ciencia.gob.es Gobierno de Canarias http://www.gobiernodecanarias.org Universidad de La Laguna https://www.ull.es CSIC http://www.csic.es General information * Contact * How to get to the IAC * List of personnel * Library * General register About the IAC * Legislation * Transparency * Code of ethics and anti-fraud policy * Gender Equality Policy * Environment and Sustainability * IAC Projects * External funding * Severo Ochoa Programme * IAC Friends IAC Portal * Sitemap * Privacy policy * Legal notice * Cookies policy * Accessibility Other links * Employment * Tenders * Institutional branding * RSS * Electronic services site * Ethics channel PostFooter > Newsletter link Newsletter Join our Newsletter * https://twitter.com/IAC_Astrofisica * https://www.facebook.com/InstitutodeAstrofisicadeCanarias * https://www.instagram.com/iac_astrofisica/ * https://www.linkedin.com/company/ instituto-de-astrof-sica-de-canarias * https://www.flickr.com/photos/institutodeastrofisicadecanarias/ * http://www.youtube.com/user/IACvideos * http://vimeo.com/astrofisicaiac * https://www.dailymotion.com/-IAC- * https://www.iac.es/es/blog/vialactea Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias * IAC