WASHINGTON – NASA’s latest planet-hunting probe has discovered its firstEarth-sized exoplanet orbiting a star 53 light-years away.
The Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) also discovered a warmsub-Neptune-sized world in the same system, according to a study publishedin the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“It’s so exciting that TESS, which launched just about a year ago, isalready a game-changer in the planet-hunting business,” said Johanna Teske,Carnegie Institution for Science in the US.
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“The spacecraft surveys the sky and we collaborate with the TESS follow-upcommunity to flag potentially interesting targets for additionalobservations using ground-based telescopes and instruments,” Teske said ina statement.
