Astronomers Discover New Earth-Sized Planet Orbiting Jupiter-Sized Red Dwarf Star

This new extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is named Speculoos-3b and is located relatively close to the Earth, just 55 light-years away.

Astronomers have discovered a new, Earth-sized planet that orbits an ultracool dwarf star similar in size to Jupiter, Guardian reported. This new extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is named Speculoos-3b and is located relatively close to the Earth, just 55 light-years away. Meanwhile, the dwarf star is twice as cold as our Sun, as well as ten times less massive and a hundred times less luminous. Astronomer Michaël Gillon and the #SPECULOOS team discovered a new Earth-sized exoplanet around SPECULOOS-3, an "ultracool dwarf" star as small as Jupiter, twice as cold as our Sun, and located 55 light-years from Earth. #ULiège@NatureAstronomy@NASAhttps://t.co/2bQGJNhBmzpic.twitter.com/K0l9RBpbD6

Speculoos-3b swings around the red dwarf once every 17 hours, making a year on the planet shorter than a single Earth day. This exoplanet is also likely "tidally locked" to its star, meaning it has an eternal dayside and an everlasting nightside.

Due to its short orbit, SPECULOOS-3b also receives almost times more energy per second than the Earth does from the Sun.