Astronomers have found a new planet. And it’s not just another distant world—it might actually matter more than we think.

It’s called TOI-715 b, and while it’s 137 light-years away, that’s actually pretty close in cosmic terms. What makes it so exciting is where it sits: right in its star’s habitable zone—,the area where conditions might be just right for liquid water. If it has the right atmosphere, it could even be a little bit like Earth.

It’s what scientists call a super-earth, a rocky exoplanet that’s bigger than earth, but not big enough to be a giant like Neptune or Jupiter. At about one and a half times earth’s size, TOI-715 b falls into a category we’re still getting to know.

It orbits a red dwarf, a smaller, cooler star than our Sun. That means the planet can orbit close without being too hot. These fast orbits actually make planets like this easier to find, which is exactly what happened here.

NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) discovered toi-715 b by watching for tiny dips in starlight as the planet passed in front of its star. That blink — just a small drop in brightness — is what told scientists something was out there. The discovery was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and it’s already getting a lot of attention.

Up next: one of our most powerful tools in space is getting ready to take a closer look.

Why scientists are so interested in toi-715 b

Discoveries like this don’t come along every day.

It’s not just that TOI-715 b is in the habitable zone—though that’s a big deal. It’s also the kind of planet we can actually learn from. This super-earth is bigger than earth. It might have a surface, maybe even an atmosphere. and because it orbits a small, cool star—a red dwarf—it sits in a place where the temperature could be just right. not too hot, not too cold.

The short orbit (it completes a full year in just 19 Earth days) means we get more chances to observe it. Every time it crosses in front of its star, TESS can watch that dip in light again. That gives scientists a better sense of its size, path, and possibly, its surroundings.

In other words: this is the kind of planet we can actually study.

The James Webb Space Telescope is up next

Now that we know TOI-715 b is out there, the next step is understanding what it’s made of and that’s where the James Webb Space Telescope comes in.

Webb—a space telescope about a million miles from earth—can help us see what we normally can’t. when a planet like TOI-715 b crosses in front of its star, webb watches the starlight passing through whatever atmosphere the planet might have. and if there is one, it might be able to spot hints of what it’s made of—maybe water vapor, carbon dioxide, or even something we weren’t expecting at all.

That kind of data is what could eventually tell us whether a planet like this might support life, or if it’s just another rocky world orbiting a distant star.

A small planet, a big step forward

There are thousands of exoplanets out there, but not all of them give us this much to work with. Super-earths like TOI-715 b are especially exciting because they might be more common than Earth-sized planets — and we’re just beginning to figure out what they’re like.

According to Renyu Hu, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, these kinds of planets are some of the most exciting targets out there. Each one adds to what we know, not just about other worlds, but about our own place in the universe.