An international team of scientists says it has discovered two new “super-Earth” type planets about 100 light-years away, one of which may be suitable for life.

Unlike any of the planets in our solar system, the nearly 1,600 known super-Earths are larger than Earth, but lighter than icy planets like Uranus and Neptune.

Researchers at Belgium’s University of Liège announced Wednesday that they found another one while using Earth-based telescopes to confirm the existence of a different planet initially discovered by a NASA satellite in the same solar system.

NASA’s satellite found planet LP 890-9b, which is about 30% larger than Earth and orbits its sun in just 2.7 days. ULiège researchers used their SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) telescopes in Chile and Spain to take a closer look at the planet with high-precision(高精度) cameras. That’s when the stargazers(天文学家) discovered another planet, LP 890-9c (renamed SPECULOOS-2c by the ULiège researchers), which is 40% larger than Earth and takes 8.5 days to orbit its sun.

Francisco Pozuelos, a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia and one of the main co-authors of the paper, said that the planet could be suitable to life despite being a mere 3.7 million miles from its sun. Earth, by comparison, is located over 93 million miles away from our sun. “Although this planet orbits very close to its star, at a distance about 10 times shorter than that of Mercury around our Sun, the amount of stellar irradiation(照射) it receives is still low, and could allow the presence of liquid water on the planet’s surface, if it has a sufficient atmosphere,” Pozuelos said. “This is because the star LP 890-9 is about 6.5 times smaller than the Sun and has a surface temperature half that of our star.”

1.What do we know about the known super-Earths?

A They are 100 light-years away from Earth.

B They are all suitable for life.

C They are bigger than Earth.

D They are heavier than Neptune.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据第二段的“the nearly 1,600 known super-Earths are larger than Earth”可知，这些超级地球都比地球更大。故选C。

2.How did ULiège researchers discover LP 890-9c?

A They discovered it by accident.

B They discovered it with NASA’s help.

C They discovered it with telescopes in Belgium.

D They discovered it with Pozuelos’ advice.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。根据第三段内容可知，研究人员是在观察另外一颗行星LP 890-9b的过程中发现了LP 890-9c，因此是意外发现的。故选A。

3.What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A How the planet was discovered.

B Why the planet may be suitable to life.

C Comparison between LP 890-9 and Earth.

D Pozuelos’ role in the discovery of the planet.

解析：选B。B 段落大意题。结合本段的“said that the planet could be suitable to life”可知，本段主要描述Pozuelos解释为什么新发现的这颗行星可能适合生命存在。故选B。

4.In which science section of a website can we read the passage?

A Space.

B Environment.

C Energy.

D Technology.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。本文主要介绍了两颗新发现的行星，属于太空领域。故选A。