NASA announces new 'super-Earth': Exoplanet orbits in 'habitable zone,' is only 137 light-years away

A "super-Earth" located 137 light-years away orbits within a "habitable zone," NASA recently announced.

Could a recently discovered "super-Earth" have the potential temperature and conditions to sustain life?

The new exoplanet is situated "fairly close to us" -- only 137 light-years away -- and orbits within a "habitable zone," according to NASA.

Astronomers say the planet, dubbed TOI-715 b, is about one and a half times the width of Earth and orbits a small, reddish star. The same system also might harbor a second, Earth-sized planet, which, if confirmed, "would become the smallest habitable-zone planet discovered by TESS [the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite] so far," NASA said in a Jan. 31 press release.

Due to the super-Earth's distance from its parent star, it could be in a conservative "habitable zone" and harbor the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface, which is essential to sustain life, according to the agency, which also added that "several other factors would have to line up, of course."