Astronomers may have discovered a planet covered in ocean

Astronomers recently discovered a distant planet that they believe is completely covered in water. This, according to Newsweek, makes it a prime target for research with the James Webb Space Telescope.

The planet has been named TOI-1452 b and is about 100 light-years from Earth. The celestial body revolves around one of a pair of stars in the constellation Draco. This is a relatively new area of ​​research, as such a planet is known as an exoplanet. It revolves around a star outside the solar system.

Scientists were able to discover the first exoplanet in 1992. And in March of this year, NASA announced the presence of 5,000 such celestial bodies. If we take into account the data of the Kepler space telescope, then there are more than a trillion planets in our galaxy. Many of them are about the size of Earth and may be in the habitable zone of their star. This means that they are located so close that they can be quite warm for the development of life and liquid water.

The existence of TOI-1452 b was confirmed using the TESS and MuSCAT3 telescopes, as well as the Mont Megantic Observatory. Scientists believe that such a planet is 70% larger than the Earth, and also almost 5 times heavier. The rotation around the star occurs with a period of 11.1 days. The planet also orbits in a binary star system, in which both stars orbit each other at a distance of approximately two and a half times greater than the distance from the Sun to Pluto. Scientists believe that this planet is a whole world of the ocean.

According to Charles Cadier of the University of Montreal, the radius and mass of TOI-1452 b suggest the lower density you would expect from a rock-and-metal planet. According to the results of the analysis, water can make up to 30% of the mass of the planet. This proportion corresponds to some satellites of the solar system.

Now it remains only to find out for sure whether TOI-1452 b is an ocean world. To do this, it must be studied using the Webb telescope. And the planet is at the perfect distance for that.