Washington - SABA
The US space agency NASA announced on Wednesday the discovery of a mysterious exoplanet called TOI-1846 b located 154 light-years away.
The planet is classified as a super-Earth with twice Earth's diameter and four times its mass orbiting a small cool red dwarf star in just four days.
Observations revealed the planet belongs to a rare category called the radius gap between small rocky planets like Earth and larger gas-filled planets like Neptune.
Scientists estimate the planet's surface temperature at about 600°F (316°C) though water presence hasn't been ruled out.
The host star measures about 40% of the Sun's size and mass with the planet orbiting much closer than Mercury's distance from our Sun.
NASA hopes to use the James Webb Space Telescope's infrared capabilities to study the planet's atmosphere for water vapor methane carbon dioxide and other gases
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