Subaru Telescope Survey Detects Its First Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone
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Schematic diagram of the newly discovered Ross 508 planetary system. The green region represents the habitable zone (HZ) where liquid water can exist on the planetary surface. The planetary orbit is shown as a blue line. For more than half of its orbit, the planet is estimated to lie closer than the HZ (solid line) and within the HZ (dashed line) for the rest of the orbit. (Credit: Astrobiology Center)
Researchers using the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea have found an exoplanet which spends about half its time in the “habitable zone” around its host star, and which may be able to retain liquid water on its surface. The exoplanet – known as Ross 508b – will be a prime target for life searches by a future generation of large telescopes. This is the first habitable zone planet found by this survey, called the IRD Subaru Strategic Program (IRD-SSP), which uses Subaru’s InfraRed Doppler Instrument (IRD) to probe low-mass bodies (late-type red dwarfs).
Read more, in the Subaru Telescope press release.
