Inhabitable planets are the Holy Grail of space exploration.
New planets are often first spotted by NASA’s geniusTransiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS).
TESS sits in space where it trains its gaze upon distant stars.
Photo:ESO/P.Holárek
The gadget registers the light each star omits and notes any deviations.
These dips in light indicate a body passing between the star and TESS.
These early exoplanet sightings can provide a lot of information and can be further investigated using Earth-based telescopes.
Photo:Adeline Deward (RISE-Illustration)
The University of Liege researchers were pursuing one of these TESS-spotted exoplanets when they encountered another new celestial body.
Both exoplanets turned out to be super-Earths.Super-Earthsare larger than Earth but lighter than icy planets like Neptune.
The second was dubbed LP 890-9c (or SPECULOOS-2c).
Photo:University of Birmingham/Amanda J. Smith
It is 40% larger than Earth with an orbit of 8.5 days.
While it may be presently unclear whether life exists on the super-Earth, the find itself is exciting.
