Overview
- An international team reports a candidate planet, HD 137010 b, in Astrophysical Journal Letters after a Planet Hunters flag in archival Kepler data.
- The signal indicates a world about 6% larger than Earth with an orbital period of roughly 355 days based on a single ~10-hour transit recorded in 2017.
- Its host star is about 1,000 degrees cooler than the Sun, suggesting Mars-like temperatures and placement near the outer edge of the habitable zone.
- Modeling cited by the researchers puts the chance of lying within a narrowly defined habitable zone at about 40%, with surface conditions hinging on atmospheric makeup.
- At about 146 light-years away, the system is bright enough to make future atmospheric characterization feasible, but additional transits or independent measurements are needed to confirm the planet.