stargazer have harbinger the discovery of a novel rarified Earth - sized exoplanet . Wolf 1069 b orbit its star in the habitable zone , where water can exist as liquid , vapour , and ice . Of the 5,000 confirm exoplanets , it ’s thought onlyaround 60might be jolty like Earth and in the habitable zona , but terra firma - sized ones or little make up just one - fifth of that . Located just 31 light - twelvemonth from Earth , Wolf 1069 atomic number 83 the sixth - closest exoplanet that could be an Earth - analog .

The concept of anEarth - analogis an interesting one . Without knowing the exact requirements for life to emerge , the unspoiled guess usually boils down to recreate the environment of our own planet . If it fall out here it could happen somewhere else as well , so stargazer look forEarth twins . Wolf 1069 b is not exactly a twin but it is close enough , making it an excellent nominee to search for aliveness .

" When we analyzed the data of the superstar Wolf 1069 , we happen upon a unmortgaged , low - amplitude signal of what is likely a planet of roughly Earth masses , " wind author Dr Diana Kossakowski of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy said in astatement . " It orbits the star within 15.6 days at a distance equivalent to one - fifteenth of the legal separation between the Earth and the Sun . "

You might cogitate at that aloofness the satellite would be baked by its star , but Wolf 1069 is much smaller and rickety than our Sun . In fact , despite being so close to its star , Wolf 1069 b pick up about 65 percentage of the radiation Earth receives from the Sun . This proximity has another peculiar gist : the planet is probable tidally locked .

Just like theMoon always read one face to Earth , this major planet only picture one side to its star , meaning one side is in a perennial daytime and one is a never - terminate night . Models hint that if the major planet is without an atmosphere , its temperature is -23 ° C ( -9.4 ° F ) on the dayside – chilly for sure , but with an atm , the average temperature would be 13 ° C ( 55.4 ° F ) , good enough for habitability .

Frustratingly , to confirm if the major planet has an atmosphere , the researchers expect we ’ll have to wait for thenext coevals of telescopesto be built , such as the super Large Telescope ( ELT ) currently under construction . " We will credibly have to wait another ten years for this , " Kossakowski enounce .

The study is print in the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics .