A rocky exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star 98 light-years away could hold the secret about how likely it is for planets like Earth to transform into inhospitable worlds like Venus.
The exoplanet, named LP 890-9c (also known as SPECULOOS-2c), was discovered in September 2022. It has a diameter 40% greater than Earth's and orbits its star every 8.5 Earth days at a distance of just 1.7 million miles (2.8 million kilometers). The red dwarf, though, is small and cool, meaning that temperatures can be clement even close to the star. Indeed, LP 890-9c is located near the inner edge of the star's habitable zone, which describes the distance around a star where a planet with an Earth-like atmosphere can support liquid water on its surface.
