Dozens of planets with conditions suitable for human life have been discovered in space: the “Goldilocks Zone”

Astronomers are intrigued by the push for further research on 'exciting' exoplanets

Scientists have discovered dozens of possible planets that could be cold enough to support life.

Photo: freepik.com

Sixty of the 85 potential exoplanets that are similar in size to Saturn are new discoveries, while 25 were discovered by independent research teams.

According to Sky News, astronomers have discovered 85 possible planets outside our solar system with temperatures that could be cool enough for life.

These exoplanet candidates are similar in size to Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune and were discovered using data from NASA's Transitioning Exoplanet Survey (TESS).

The TESS satellite allows scientists to observe dips in the brightness of stars, known as transits, caused by objects passing in front of them, notes Sky News.

Typically, to detect an exoplanet in this way, you need to see at least three transits to determine how long it takes them to orbit their star.

However, in the new study, the researchers looked at systems that transit only twice, resulting in planets with longer orbital periods, allowing exoplanets to be discovered at lower temperatures.

Sixty of the 85 potential exoplanets are new discoveries , while 25 were discovered in TESS data by independent research groups.

Professor Daniel Bayliss, from the University of Warwick, said: “It's very exciting to find these planets and know that many of them may be in the right temperature zone to support life.”

“Following the collaborative spirit of the TESS mission, we have also made our findings public. discovery so that astronomers around the world can study these unique exoplanets in more detail. We hope this will spur further research into these exciting exoplanets,” says Professor Bayliss.

Researchers say that some planets are found quite far from their host stars so that they can have the right temperature to support life.

This place is known as the “Goldilocks zone” or “habitable zone,” says Sky News.

At this stage, the discovered cosmic bodies still need to be confirmed as exoplanets, but researchers hope that this will be achieved through future observations.

The results of the international collaboration were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) .