A potentially habitable new planet has been discovered 146 light-years away but it may be -70C

"Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable new planet about 146 light-years away which is Earth-sized and has conditions similar to Mars. The candidate planet, named HD 137010 b, orbits a sun-like star and is estimated to be 6% larger than Earth. An international team of scientists in Australia, the UK, the US and Denmark identified the planet using data captured in 2017 by the Nasa Kepler space telescope's extended mission, known as K2."

"Dr Chelsea Huang, a researcher at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Australia, said the planet has an orbit similar to Earth's, of about 355 days. The researchers believe the planet has about a 50% chance of residing in the habitable zone of the star it orbits. What's very exciting about this particular Earth-sized planet is that its star is only [about] 150 light-years away from our solar system, said Huang, one of the co-authors of the research."

"HD 137010 b was spotted when it briefly crossed in front of its star, resulting in a minute dimming event. That faint signal was initially detected by a team of citizen scientists including the study's first author, Dr Alexander Venner, when he was still a high school student. I contributed to this citizen science project called Planet Hunters back when I was in secondary school, and it was a big part of how I got into research, said Venner."

An Earth-sized candidate planet, HD 137010 b, lies about 146 light-years away and is estimated to be 6% larger than Earth. The planet orbits a sun-like star with a period of about 355 days and has roughly a 50% chance of residing in the star's habitable zone. The planet was identified in 2017 Kepler K2 data by an international team spanning Australia, the UK, the US and Denmark. HD 137010 b was detected via a minute transit dimming first flagged by citizen scientists, including Alexander Venner as a high school student. The host star is unusually close and relatively bright compared with other sun-like habitable-zone targets.

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