In a study published August 5 in Astronomy & Astrophysics, researchers report a few new discoveries about the L 98-59 system, which looks quite a bit like our own.
L 98-59b is the smallest planet astronomers have measured with the radial velocity technique, which looks for small changes in a star's velocity to detect a planet. Small planets are notoriously tough to locate.
L 98-59d, the third planet from the star first identified in 2019, looks like it could have water inside.
The research team estimates that up to 30 percent of its mass is water, making it an ocean world like Earth. By comparison, our planet is 71 percent water.
A fourth planet was detected for the first time, and a fifth may lie in the system’s habitable zone.
We don’t know much about these bodies yet, but the research team estimates that the fifth one is a similar distance from its sun as Earth is from the Sun.
Being an ocean world is one thing, but having surface-level oceans is another.
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