Overview
- A Penn State–led team reports the planet in The Astronomical Journal as a robust radial‑velocity detection.
- GJ 251 c orbits the red dwarf GJ 251 at roughly 18.2 light‑years and lies in the star’s temperate zone where liquid water could be possible with a suitable atmosphere.
- The signal was isolated by combining long‑baseline HPF data with independent NEID observations to guard against stellar‑activity false positives.
- Researchers caution that habitable‑zone placement does not guarantee habitability because red dwarfs can strip atmospheres and no atmosphere has been observed on GJ 251 c.
- Detailed atmospheric studies are expected to require 30‑meter‑class telescopes such as ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, with the system already known to host an inner 14‑day planet discovered in 2020.