11/08/2025
Astronomers may have just uncovered a major contender for “Earth 2.0” a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a star remarkably similar to our Sun. Named Kepler-725c, this planet weighs in at about 10 times Earth’s mass and follows a 207.5-day orbit that takes it partially through its star’s habitable zone the sweet spot where liquid water could exist.
What makes this discovery groundbreaking is the method used to find it. Rather than relying on the planet crossing its star (a “transit”), researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Yunnan Observatories used Transit Timing Variation (TTV). By studying subtle gravitational tugs on a known gas giant in the system, they detected Kepler-725c without needing a direct transit signal.
This marks the first confirmation of a non-transiting super-Earth in a habitable zone using TTV, proving that worlds with Earth-like conditions can be uncovered even when they don’t neatly align for traditional detection methods. With upcoming missions like Europe’s PLATO and China’s Earth 2.0, astronomers expect even more discoveries bringing us closer than ever to answering the ultimate question: Are we alone in the universe?
📸 Credit: Sun, L., Gu, S., Wang, X., et al. (2025). A temperate 10-Earth-mass exoplanet around the Sun-like star Kepler-725. Nature Astronomy.
