After 20 years of research, astronomers discover a planet that looks strangely like Earth

For years, many astronomers have been searching for exoplanets in the universe. And although some of them are ideal candidates for harboring life, an Earth-like planet has been discovered after twenty years of research.

Located 18 million light-years from Earth, this planet named GJ 251 c meets all the conditions necessary for life to develop. This discovery was made possible thanks to the Habitable Zone Planet Finder, a spectrograph capable of providing measurements of infrared signals emitted by nearby stars.

Regarding its star, it is a red dwarf that is half as hot as the Sun and only represents 36% of its mass. However, this could be enough for life to develop on this planet, as it is only 12 million kilometers away from its star. In other words, it is located in its habitable zone.

And to understand the extent of this discovery, Suvrath Mahadevan, astrophysicist of the Consortium for Planetary and Exoplanetary Science and Technology, explains in the study published by IOPscience: 

"This discovery represents one of the best candidates in the search for atmospheric signatures of life beyond Earth in the next five to ten years."

But while this seems promising for discovering life beyond Earth, we must remain cautious. Only the next generation of telescopes will be able to detect the density of GJ 251 c's atmosphere, if it exists on this planet.

Thus, while many astronomers are confident, particularly because GJ 251 c orbits its star in just 14 days, we will have to wait for further studies. And in the meantime, similar discoveries may be made by astronomers around the world.