Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet that may be "the best place to live outside the solar system". As reported on the site of the European Southern Observatory, the open "super-earth" rotates in the habitable zone around the weak star LHS 1140, which is located at a distance of 40 light years from Earth in the constellation of China.

The conditions created on the new planet by its maternal star seem to be favorable for the existence of life. The LHS 1140 star rotates more slowly and emits less high-energy hard radiation than other low-mass stars of the same type.

In order for life to exist on the planet in the form that we know, there must be liquid water on its surface, and around it there must be an atmosphere. In this case, the large dimensions of the planet mean that its surface for millions of years could be covered by an ocean of magma that would saturate the atmosphere with water vapor. And now, when the mother star has long passed into a calm state, these steam reserves could well lead to the appearance of oceans on the surface of the planet.

According to astronomers, the planet's age is not less than five billion years. Its diameter is about 1.4 times larger than the earth's - almost 18 thousand kilometers. And since the mass of the planet is approximately seven times larger than that of the Earth, and therefore its density is much greater, it turns out that the new exoplanet consists of rocky rocks and has a dense iron core.

February 22 at a press conference NASA told about the discovery of seven earth-like planets from the star TRAPPIST-1 - red dwarf in the constellation of Aquarius, which is located at a distance of 40 light years from Earth. Three of the seven planets discovered rotate in the inhabited zone of the star, that is, they can have a life.