科学家在类太阳恒星宜居带发现“超级地球”

Core Viewpoint - A significant discovery has been made by a Sino-German research team led by the Yunnan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, identifying a "super-Earth" that may harbor Earth-like life around a sun-like star, marking the first use of transit timing variation (TTV) inversion technology for such a finding in the habitable zone of a sun-like star [1][2]. Group 1 - The newly discovered planet has a mass ten times that of Earth and is located approximately 2,472 light-years away from the solar system, orbiting the star Kepler-725, which is significantly younger than the Sun at only 1.6 billion years old [1]. - The research team utilized TTV inversion technology to infer the existence of this "super-Earth" by observing the slight deviations in the orbital period of another transiting planet in the Kepler-725 system [2]. - Currently, 5,912 exoplanets have been discovered, but very few are suitable for Earth-like life, as traditional methods like the transit method and radial velocity method struggle to detect smaller, distant planets like Earth [1]. Group 2 - Further investigation is required to determine if the identified habitable zone planets truly possess conditions suitable for Earth-like life [3]. - The research team expresses optimism that humanity may soon find a "blue planet" similar to Earth, potentially answering the age-old question of whether Earth is the only life-bearing planet in the vast universe [3].