{"id":99943,"date":"2025-10-23T19:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/99943\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T19:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:55:07","slug":"super-earth-candidate-found-in-habitable-zone-of-gliese-251","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/99943\/","title":{"rendered":"Super-Earth Candidate Found in Habitable Zone of Gliese 251"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gliese 251 is an early red dwarf star and the 74th closest star system to our Sun.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

An artist\u2019s conception of the Gliese 251 system, showing Gliese 251c (left), its host star (right), and the previously-discovered planet Gliese 251b (middle). Image credit: Michael Marcheschi \/ m2design.<\/p>\n

Gliese 251<\/a> is a bright M-dwarf star located 5.58 parsecs (18 light-years) away in the constellation of Gemini.<\/p>\n

Also known as GJ 251, HD 265866 or Wolf 294, the star likely hosts at least two super-Earths: Gliese 251b and Gliese 251c.<\/p>\n

First discovered<\/a> in 2020, Gliese 251b has a mass of 3.85 Earth masses and an orbital period of 14.2 days.<\/p>\n

The newfound exoplanet Gliese 251c has a mass of 3.84 Earth masses and an orbital period of 53.6 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found so many exoplanets at this point that discovering a new one is not such a big deal,\u201d said University of California, Irvine astronomer Paul Robertson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes this especially valuable is that its host star is close by, at just about 18 light-years away. Cosmically speaking, it\u2019s practically next door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gliese 251c was found using data from the Habitable-Zone Planet Finder (HPF), a high-precision, near-infrared spectrograph on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.<\/p>\n

The planet\u2019s signal was further confirmed using the NEID spectrometer at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at the cutting edge of technology and analysis methods with this system,\u201d said Design West Technologies data scientist Corey Beard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile its discovery is quite statistically significant, we are still determining the status of the planet due to the uncertainty of our instruments and methods.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need the next generation of telescopes to directly image this candidate, but what we also need is community investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gliese 251c\u2019s proximity to Earth makes it an ideal target for future direct imaging studies with the future Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).<\/p>\n

The large size of TMT\u2019s mirrors may enable it to directly image faint exoplanets like Gliese 251c and confirm the presence of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cTMT will be the only telescope with sufficient resolution to image<\/a> exoplanets like this one,\u201d Dr. Beard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not possible with smaller telescopes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s results were published in the Astronomical Journal.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Corey Beard et al. 2025. Discovery of a Nearby Habitable Zone Super-Earth Candidate Amenable to Direct Imaging. AJ 170, 279; doi: 10.3847\/1538-3881\/ae0e20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gliese 251 is an early red dwarf star and the 74th closest star system to our Sun. An…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[910,62023,62024,62025,62026,62027,62028,49380,16447,62029,62030,61,60,62031,62032,82,62033,62034],"class_list":{"0":"post-99943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-exoplanet","9":"tag-gj-251","10":"tag-gj-251b","11":"tag-gj-251c","12":"tag-gliese-251","13":"tag-gliese-251b","14":"tag-gliese-251c","15":"tag-habitability","16":"tag-habitable-zone","17":"tag-habitable-zone-planet-finder","18":"tag-hobby-eberly-telescope","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-kitt-peak-national-observatory","22":"tag-neid","23":"tag-science","24":"tag-super-earth","25":"tag-thirty-meter-telescope"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}