Australian Astronomers Unveil Discovery of a Potentially Habitable Exoplanet

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Australian astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable planet 150 light years away.

The candidate planet, named HD 137010 b, was identified by an international team led by University of Southern Queensland researcher Dr Alexander Venner using data from NASA’s Kepler extended K2 mission captured in 2017.

A newly identified planet appears to be just slightly larger than Earth, with its dimensions being around six percent bigger. However, its surface temperature is more akin to that of Mars, potentially plummeting below a frosty -70 degrees Celsius.

Researchers have determined that this candidate planet resides near the outer boundary of the habitable zone. This is the region around a star where conditions might allow for liquid water to be present on a planet’s surface.

The planet, known as HD 137010 b, was discovered during a brief transit across its star, captured over three months of observations by the Kepler space telescope.

This celestial body left only the slightest hint of its existence, with the subtle signal being uncovered by a dedicated group of amateur citizen scientists, including an individual named Venner.

“Back in secondary school, I got involved with a citizen science initiative called Planet Hunters. It played a significant role in sparking my interest in research,” Venner shared.

“It was an amazing experience to go back to this work and dig up such an important discovery.”

Australian astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable planet 150 light years away.The candidate planet, named HD 137010 b, was identified by an international team led by University of Southern Queensland researcher Dr Alexander Venner using data from NASA's Kepler extended K2 mission captured in 2017. — University of Southern Queensland researcher Dr Alexander Venner. (University of Southern Queensland)

University of Southern Queensland astrophysicist Dr Chelsea Huang, a co-author of the study and Venner’s PhD supervisor, said to date most of the potential habitable planets were around small dim stars.

“This causes a problem because these planets are so close to the host star that they experience an extended period of high-energy radiation,” Huang said.

“Scientists expect this high-energy radiation will blast the atmosphere away of this planet and make them inhabitable.”

Huang said the team expects this new candidate planet will have more favourable conditions for habitability.

University of Southern Queensland astrophysicist Dr Chelsea Huang supervised Venner. (University of Southern Queensland)

Venner said HD 137010 b was the first planet candidate with Earth-like properties to transit a Sun-like star bright enough for substantial follow-up observations.

“While current generations of astronomical instruments cannot fully characterise this newly discovered planet, it could become a prime target for future radial velocity instruments aiming to detect Earth analogues,” he said.

“Future space missions designed to directly image Earth-like planets, like the NASA Habitable Worlds Observatory, may also be capable of capturing images of HD 137010 b.”

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