The planet was discovered by Stephen Kane from San Francisco State University, and from what can be seen it appears the ‘nearby’ planet could be situated within the goldilocks zone, which would mean it was a potential candidate to host alien life.
“The Wolf 1061 system is important because it is so close and that gives other opportunities to do follow-up studies to see if it does indeed have life,” said Kane.
Initially, the planet seemed to be too close to its star, which made astronomers believe it may have been too hot to support liquid water and life. Now however, it is believed that due to a chaotic orbit, the planet goes through regular cold periods which may help improve the conditions for biological life.
“A critical component of exoplanetary studies is an exhaustive characterisation of the host star, from which the planetary properties are frequently derived,” Kane and his team wrote.
“Of particular value are the radius, temperature, and luminosity, which are key stellar parameters for studies of transit and habitability science.”
