Researchers have discovered eight new planets orbiting red dwarf stars, three of which are believed to be super-Earths in habitable zones.
The recent study shows that virtually every known red dwarf hosts at least one planet, a University of Hertfordshire news release reported. Red dwarfs make up nearly three quarters of the universe's stars.
Planets that orbit in their star's habitable zone have the potential for harboring liquid water and extraterrestrial life; this new research suggests about a quarter of red dwarfs in the Sun's neighborhood host these planets.
To make their findings the researchers looked at two "high-precision planet surveys," the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher) and UVES (Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph), the news release reported.
"We were looking at the data from UVES alone, and noticed some variability that could not be explained by random noise. By combining those with data from HARPS, we managed to spot this spectacular haul of planet candidates," Mikko Tuomi, from the University of Hertfordshire's Center for Astrophysics Research and lead author of the study, said in the news release. "We are clearly probing a highly abundant population of low-mass planets, and can readily expect to find many more in the near future -- even around the very closest stars to the Sun.
In order to find these planets the team looked at the "wobble" their gravitational pulls imposed on the host star.
"This result is somewhat expected in the sense that studies of distant red dwarfs with the Kepler mission indicate a significant population of small radius planets. So it is pleasing to be able to confirm this result with a sample of stars that are among the brightest in their class," Professor Hugh Jones, of the University of Hertfordshire said in the news release.
