NASA discovers first earth sized planet outside solar system
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WASHINGTON - NASA's latest planet-hunting probe has discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a star 53 light-years away.
The Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) also discovered a warm sub-Neptune-sized world in the same system, according to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"It's so exciting that TESS, which launched just about a year ago, is already a game-changer in the planet-hunting business," said Johanna Teske, Carnegie Institution for Science in the US.
"The spacecraft surveys the sky and we collaborate with the TESS follow-up community to flag potentially interesting targets for additional observations using ground-based telescopes and instruments," Teske said in a statement.
