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Gliese 251 is an early red dwarf star and the 74th closest galaxy to our Sun.
An artist’s conception of the Gliese 251 system, revealing Gliese 251c (left), its host star( right), and the previously-discovered world Gliese 251b(middle). Image credit: Michael Marcheschi/ m2design.
Gliese 251 is a brilliant M-dwarf star situated 5.58 parsecs (18 light-years) away in the constellation of Gemini.
Understood as GJ 251, HD 265866 or Wolf 294, the star most likely hosts at least 2 super-Earths: Gliese 251b and Gliese 251c.
Found in 2020, Gliese 251b has a mass of 3.85 Earth masses and an orbital duration of 14.2 days.
The newly found exoplanet Gliese 251c has a mass of 3.84 Earth masses and an orbital duration of 53.6 days.
“We have actually discovered numerous exoplanets at this moment that finding a brand-new one is not such a huge offer,” stated University of California, Irvine astronomer Paul Robertson.
“What makes this particularly important is that its host star is nearby, at almost 18 light-years away. Cosmically speaking, it’s virtually next door.”
Gliese 251c was discovered utilizing information from the Habitable-Zone Planet Finder (HPF), a high-precision, near-infrared spectrograph on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.
The world’s signal was even more validated utilizing the NEID spectrometer at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
“We are at the cutting edge of innovation and analysis techniques with this system,” stated Design West Technologies information researcher Corey Beard.
“While its discovery is rather statistically substantial, we are still figuring out the status of the world due to the unpredictability of our instruments and approaches.”
“We require the next generation of telescopes to straight image this prospect, however what we likewise require is neighborhood financial investment.”
Gliese 251c’s distance to Earth makes it a perfect target for future direct imaging research studies with the future Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
The plus size of TMT’s mirrors might allow it to straight image faint exoplanets like Gliese 251c and validate the existence of water.
“TMT will be the only telescope with enough resolution to image exoplanets like this one,” Dr. Beard stated.
“It’s simply not possible with smaller sized telescopes.”
The group’s outcomes were released in the Huge Journal
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Corey Beard et al2025. Discovery of a Nearby Habitable Zone Super-Earth Candidate Amenable to Direct Imaging. AJ 170, 279; doi: 10.3847/ 1538-3881/ ae0e20
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