The planet revolves around a small star in the constellation Draco.
Scientists from Canada discovered an exoplanet located on 100 light years from Earth and probably completely covered by water. TOI-1452 b orbits one of two small stars located in the constellation Draco, Forbes reports.
The discovered planet is slightly larger than Earth. It orbits its star in a zone where liquid water is possible.
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According to the authors of the discovery, this may to be an ocean planet – a celestial body that is completely covered by a thick layer of water. They compare the planet to Jupiter's moons Ganymede and Callisto, and Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus. It is assumed that there is a global ocean on them.
The location of the planet is very good, because the constellation Dragon is always visible in the night sky. In addition, it is close enough to the Earth that scientists can study its atmosphere.
Rene Doyon from the University of Montreal, one of the authors of the study, believes that the James Webb telescope should study the planet in the future. This will make it possible to study TOI-1452 b in more detail and reveal all its details.
The planet was discovered by the TESS telescope. It is 70% larger than Earth and revolves around one of two red dwarfs that orbit each other.
To determine the mass of the planet, scientists needed about 50 hours of observations. They believe that the mass of the celestial body is five times greater than that of the Earth. But water makes up 1% of the mass of our planet, in TOI-1452 b it is about 30%.
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Earlier astronomers using the Very Large Telescope discovered another possible planet orbiting Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the solar system. If the discovery is confirmed, the object will become the third planet in this system.
