科学家在类太阳恒星宜居带发现“超级地球”
People have long wondered: Is there life beyond Earth? Scientists may have found an important clue. A team from China and Germany discovered a new planet called Kepler-725c. This planet orbits a sun-like star 2,472 light years away. The discovery was published in Nature Astronomy. Chinese scientists from Yunnan Observatories led the work. They used a special method called the Transit Timing Variation (TTV) technique. This method helps find “invisible” planets.
Kepler-725c is very interesting. It is ten times heavier than Earth. It travels around its star every 207.5 days. That is similar to Earth’s yearly trip around the Sun. Most importantly, it sits in the star’s “habitable zone”. This means temperatures might allow liquid water — a key need for life. The planet’s star looks like our Sun. But it is younger, only 1.6 billion years old. It also shows stronger magnetic (磁的) activity.
How did scientists find this hidden planet? They watched another planet in the same system. That planet, Kepler-725b, is a large gas giant. It circles its star every 39.64 days. By measuring tiny changes in Kepler-725b’s movements, scientists found clues about Kepler-725c. Researcher Wang Xiaobin explained it simply: Like noticing if a clock runs fast or slow to guess if someone touched it. This TTV method is good for finding small planets far from their stars. It solves problems other methods have.
This discovery helps China’s future space projects. These include the China Space Station Telescope (CSST) and the Earth 2.0 (ET) project. European missions like PLATO will also use this method. Together, they hope to find more Earth-like worlds.
Next, scientists will study if such planets really can support life. They will work with international teams. Their search for cosmic neighbors continues with new tools and global teamwork.
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