An international team of astronomers has discovered two new super-Earths orbiting a distant ultracool dwarf star up to 100 light-years away from Earth.
The exoplanets orbit the second coolest star and were discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the Search for Habitable Planets Eclipsing Ultra-cool Stars (SPECULOOS).
The inner planet, designated LP 890-9b, is almost 30% larger than Earth and rapidly orbits the dwarf star in just 2.7 Earth days.
The second planet, called LP 890-9c, is slightly larger, almost 40% larger than Earth, and completes its orbit in around 8.5 Earth days.
Scientists hope to study the atmosphere and search for possible chemical traces of life using large observatories, like the James Webb Space Telescope.
