TESS satellite uncovers its 'first nearby super-Earth'

An international team of astronomers led by Cornell's Lisa Kaltenegger has characterized the first potentially habitable world outside of our solar system discovered by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

Located about 31 light-years away, the super-Earth planet -- named GJ 357 d -- was discovered in early 2019 owing to TESS, a mission designed to comb the heavens for exoplanets, according to their new modeling research in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"This is exciting, as this is TESS's first discovery of a nearby super-Earth that could harbor life -- TESS is a small, mighty mission with a huge reach," said Kaltenegger, associate professor of astronomy, director of Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute and a member of the TESS science team.

The exoplanet is more massive than our own blue planet, and Kaltenegger said the discovery will provide insight into Earth's heavyweight planetary cousins. "With a thick atmosphere, the planet GJ 357 d could maintain liquid water on its surface like Earth, and we could pick out signs of life with telescopes that will soon be online," she said.






ScienceDaily