‘Super Earth’ seen orbiting nearby star

London: Scientists have discovered a new ‘super Earth’ planet with a mass around 5.4 times that of the Earth, orbiting a very bright star near to our Sun.

The exoplanet, GJ 536 b, is not within the star’s habitable zone, but its short orbital period of 8.7 days and the luminosity of its star make it an attractive candidate for investigating its atmospheric composition, researchers said.

The star, GJ 536, is a red dwarf which is quite cool and near to our Sun, they said. During the research, a cycle of magnetic activity similar to that of the Sun has been observed, but with a shorter period, three years.

“So far, the only planet we have found is GJ 536 b, but we are continuing to monitor the star to see if we can find other companions,” said Alejandro Suarez Mascareno from Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and University of La Laguna in Spain. “Rocky planets are usually found in groups, especially around stars of this type, and we are sure that we can find other low-mass planets in orbits further from the star, with periods from 100 days up to a few years,” he said.

“We are preparing a programme of monitoring for transits of new exoplanet to determine its radius and mean density,” he said.