Astronomers discover exoplanets covered by oceans

A group of scientists from the University of Montreal, Canada, announced the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting two small stars of a system in the constellation of Draco, located 100 light-years from Earth.

TOI-1452 b, as it is called, is slightly larger than the planet inhabited by humans. Its location, relative to the star orbiting it, is ideal for the presence of liquid water on the surface.

The first sign of TOI-1452 b was captured by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Next, there was confirmation from the telescope at the Mont-Mégantic Observatory (OMM) in Quebec, Canada.

In an article published in Astronomical JournalScientists say that a celestial body could be an “ocean planet” covered in a thick layer of water. The mass of an exoplanet is 5 times the mass of the Earth.

TOI-1452 b’s host star is smaller than our Sun. It has a density that can only be explained if a significant part of its mass is made up of a substance lighter than that of the Earth’s internal structure, such as water. That’s why researchers called it an ocean planet.

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