An ocean planet. This is the latest find from researchers at the University of Montreal. Charles Cadieux, the team leader announced the discovery a few days ago. He explains that the exoplanet TOI-1452 b is only 100 light years away from us.

Considering the size of the Universe, we are next door neighbors. According to the first analyzes, the planet is slightly larger than the Earth. Both in terms of its size and its mass. Another very interesting argument concerning this planet, it is in the habitability zone of its star.

This means that it is neither too hot nor too cold on the surface. So much data that is essential to have a chance to see life develop on this planet. The fact that it is entirely covered with liquid water could also be good news.

Water: an essential element for the arrival of life

Life is known to have originated on Earth in water, and other exoplanets or moons in our solar system covered in water are very good candidates for hosting life. This is particularly the case of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn which is known for its abundance of liquid water on the surface.

As for TOI-1452 b, researchers still lack data to get an accurate idea of ​​the state of the planet. Charles Cadieux estimates that the exoplanet is undoubtedly rocky, but that it is covered with liquid water, like a gigantic ocean.

For now, the most probable is that water covers the entire surface of the planet, but the researchers do not exclude the hypothesis of one or two “points” of land in the middle of all this water. In order to find out more, we must now launch new studies on this exoplanet.

New studies need to be done

Located 100 light years from us, it could be the ideal candidate to prove once and for all that life exists elsewhere, outside our solar system. In the future, the James Webb Space Telescope could take an interest in the planet and study it more closely.

Thanks to its ultra-precise infrared sensor, the telescope would be able to see “under water” and thus give us information on the composition of the rock on this planet. If such an observation is not yet on the agenda, one of James Webb’s missions is to find life outside the Earth. The study of TOI-1452 b is therefore more than conceivable.