Due to the super-Earth's distance from its parent star, it could be in a conservative 'habitable zone' and harbor the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface, which is essential to sustain life, according to the agency, which also added that 'several other factors would have to line up, of course.'
The agency said that because of the short distance the super-Earth orbits from its parent star, a red dwarf that's smaller and cooler than our Earth's sun, a 'year' for the planet is equal to 19 Earth days. The tighter orbits mean the 'planets can be more easily detected and more frequently observed,' NASA said.
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