Suvrath Mahadevan, professor of astronomy at Penn State, explained, "We look for these types of planets because they are our best chance at finding life elsewhere. The exoplanet is in the habitable or the Goldilocks Zone, the right distance from its star that liquid water could exist on its surface, if it has the right atmosphere."
The planet's discovery relies on data from the Habitable-Zone Planet Finder, a high-precision infrared spectrograph installed at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas. Penn State led the design and construction of this instrument, which is dedicated to detecting Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars.
The team combined two decades of international data with new measurements, examining the subtle "wobble" of the star GJ 251 to uncover signs of its planets. Initial measurements refined the orbit of a previously known inner planet, GJ 251 b, circling the star every 14 days. Further analysis revealed a 54-day orbit for GJ 251 c, indicating a larger and more promising world. Researchers confirmed the signal with the NEID spectrometer at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
Corresponding author Corey Beard, who conducted research as a doctoral student at University of California, Irvine, commented, "We need the next generation of telescopes to directly image this candidate, but what we also need is community investment."
Mahadevan underscored the challenge posed by distinguishing planetary motion from stellar activity, noting that advanced computational techniques were used to separate true signals from noise. Mahadevan remarked, "This is a hard game in terms of trying to beat down stellar activity as well as measuring its subtle signals, teasing out slight signals from what is essentially this frothing, magnetospheric cauldron of a star surface."
Eric Ford, director of research for Penn State's Institute of Computational and Data Sciences, stated, "Mitigating stellar activity noise required not just cutting-edge instrumentation and telescope access, but also customizing the data science methods for the specific needs of this star and combination of instruments."
While current technology does not allow direct imaging or atmospheric study of GJ 251 c, researchers anticipate future generations of 30-meter-class ground-based telescopes will be able to investigate the planet's atmosphere for signs of life.
Mahadevan stressed the importance of continued innovation: "We are always focused on the future. Whether that's making sure the next generation of students can engage in cutting-edge research or designing and building new technology to detect potentially habitable planets."
He concluded, "While we can't yet confirm the presence of an atmosphere or life on GJ 251 c, the planet represents a promising target for future exploration. We made an exciting discovery, but there's still much more to learn about this planet."
Research Report:Discovery of a nearby Habitable Zone Super-Earth Candidate Amenable to Direct Imaging
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